![]() ![]() The counties where road dumping has been reported include- Butler, Cambria, Clarion, Crawford, Elk, Erie, Forest, Greene, Jefferson, Mercer, Potter, Venango and Warren.Ī Penn State study- one of several over the years- released last May found the wastewater contains at least 32 chemicals and parameters which exceed health and environmental standards. The practice has not only been proven to break up dirt roads and cause more dust, it affects the health of people who live along those dirt roads by spreading contaminated dust and running off the roads into gutters and streams after a rain. We do know that millions of gallons were reported by operators themselves as being spread on dirt and gravel roads since records have been kept. It can be a real problem with abandoned and orphan wells with no operator.īecause over half the conventional operators have a practice of failing to file production and waste generation reports- 57% at last count covering 61,655 wells - we can’t really account for where as much as 118 million gallons goes for treatment, reuse or disposal. Wastewater is produced from the time a well is drilled through its entire lifecycle, which can be decades. Read more here.Īccording to DEP’s eFACTS database, Triumph Township is home to over 1,000 registered conventional oil and gas wells.Ĭonventional operators produce over 200 million gallons of wastewater from their wells every year- more or less. Several commercial salt brines were analyzed for comparison purposes in Penn State’s May 2022 study and those results are available in the report. Burgos repeated a recommendation in the study saying DEP should look at regulating commercial products using calcium chlorides- salts- to treat roads because their concentrations of pollutants is often higher than even the conventional drilling wastewater. In a presentation to DCED’s PA Grade Crude Development Advisory Council in August of 2022, Dr. ![]() William Burgos, lead author of a Penn State study of conventional oil and gas wastewater released in May of 2022, also expressed environmental concerns about road spreading commercial salt brine generally. The practice remains illegal, unless approved under DEP’s Residual Waste Regulation, but it has not yet been banned.ĭr. In May 2022, DEP wrote letters to more than a dozen municipalities to advise them that the road dumping of conventional oil and gas drilling wastewater is illegal and considered waste disposal. Triumph Township has been listed by DEP as one of 84 municipalities considered “waste facilities” because they accepted wastewater from conventional oil and gas operators for dumping on its dirt and gravel roads as a dust suppressant. The ad did not specify what time of year the 100,000 gallons of salt brine would be spread on roads, except to say “as directed by the township.”ġ00,000 gallons is about 25 truck loads of brine. The ad specified the salt brine must not be “regulated by Pa DEP” and must be “at least 25% chlorides.” Triumph Township in Warren County published an advertisement in the Warren County Guide on May 8 soliciting bids for approximately 100,000 gallons of salt brine to dump on township roads. Triumph Township, Warren County Advertising For 100,000 Gallons Of ‘Salt Brine’ To Dump On Township Roads ![]()
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