Pennsylvania will step up its monitoring of naturally occurring radiation levels in water, rock cuttings and drilling wastes associated with oil and gas development in a yearlong study that will be peer-reviewed, the state?s environmental agency reports.
The study will also assess radiation levels in the pipes, well casings, storage tanks, treatment systems and trucks used by the natural gas industry, which has drilled thousands of wells in the gas-rich Marcellus Shale over the last five years.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, which already reviews radioactivity data in wastes generated by the oil and gas industry, said Thursday that it had so far found only ?very low levels of natural radioactivity? in landfills and streams. It will be expanding that work to conduct a comprehensive study of the industry, it said in a statement.
Kevin Sunday, a spokesman for the department, said the new study, which covers both conventional oil and gas development and hydraulic fracturing, was not a response to any evidence of excessive radiation levels at drilling sites. Rather, he said, it is a ?forward-looking? exercise that anticipates the long-term expansion of the industry.
?We recognize that the industry is here to stay, and we want the public to be protected,? Mr. Sunday said.
Hydraulic fracturing, which involves injecting chemicals and water under enormous pressure into underground shale formations to extract gas or oil, got under way in Pennsylvania in 2008.
In New York, state officials are currently weighing whether to allow the drilling process to begin. The state?s health commissioner is conducting a review of whether the state?s Department of Environmental Conservation has adequately addressed potential impacts on public health.
Critics say radioactive materials that naturally occur deep underground are disturbed by drilling and fracking and come to the surface with natural and manmade chemicals in wastewater that can contaminate rivers and streams after it goes through treatment plants.
Myron Arnowitt, the Pennsylvania director for Clean Water Action, a national environmental group, welcomed the new study but said the radioactive content of drilling waste had been known for several years.
?We?ve known for a long time that there is radiation coming back in the wastewater,? Mr. Arnowitt said. ?The fact that they are doing a broad study now indicates that they must have some new data.?
But the state department said that less than half of 1 percent of Marcellus Shale drill cuttings that were disposed of in landfills last year contained enough radiation to trigger radiation monitors, and that those levels would not harm public health.
The environmental agency has recently been faulted for reporting incomplete results from its tests for chemicals in water taken from private water wells near gas drilling sites. This week Jesse J. White, a Democrat in the state assembly, introduced a bill that would require the department to report complete results of any environmental tests conducted on samples taken from landowners or leaseholders.
Mr. Arnowitt suggested that the agency?s announcement might reflect a desire to rebuild public trust after the latest reports of incomplete chemical tests. ?Some members of the public have really lost confidence in the D.E.P., and the D.E.P. may be looking for ways to restore that confidence,? he said.
Mr. Sunday said the new testing was unrelated to that criticism.
So far the natural gas industry has drilled about 6,000 Marcellus wells using a combination of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling. About half of the wells are currently in production, Mr. Sunday said.
In 2011, the industry complied with a request from the environmental department to stop taking wastewater to treatment plants that were not equipped to fully treat it. Subsequent downstream monitoring of seven rivers found that radioactivity was at or below normal background levels and complied with federal safe drinking water standards, the department said.
Among the radioactive material often found in drilling wastes is radium 226, which can cause cancer, anemia and cataracts, according to the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.
In New York, a state investigation of 10 naturally occurring radioactive materials, including radium 226, in oil and gas wells found that although radium levels were twice the background level in soil and rock, they were not a threat to public health. ?NORM contamination of New York State equipment is insignificant,? said the study, by the state?s Department of Environmental Conservation.
city creek center andrew luck pro day josh johnson kim kardashian flour matt forte jeremy shockey new orleans saints
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.