Environmental Health Project: 75% Of Hazardous Waste Accepted At MAX Environmental Yukon Facility In Westmoreland County Comes From Shale Gas Industry; Sludge Proposed To Be Delisted As Hazardous Waste
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The following blog post By Tina Curry-Bashioum was posted on the Environmental Health Project website providing a detailed look at the MAX Environmental Yukon Facility hazardous waste disposal site that accepts shale gas drilling waste in Westmoreland County.

She lived there for 16 years before moving to a neighboring town about two years ago. “Not living there now,” Tina said, “I can physically feel a difference in my whole body. Looking back, I didn’t realize how sluggish I was. When I go back now, I can feel how heavy the air is there.”

In addition to a history and a tour of the facility, she describes how the facility accepts hazardous waste from the oil and gas industry--

Health Impacts of Shale Gas Industry Waste

MAX Environmental disclosed in a public meeting that, historically, 75% of the hazardous waste accepted at the Yukon Facility comes from the oil and gas industry.

The shale gas industry produces a tremendous amount of toxic waste in liquid, sludge, and solid forms.

The EPA estimates that, on average, 160,000 gallons of waste is produced each day in just the first five days after a fracturing job.

While this amount can decrease over time, it is still estimated that a well can produce 1,100 gallons of liquid waste every day for anywhere between 10-30 years. This waste is a public health concern because of its toxicity and radioactivity.

Leachate is formed in landfills as rainwater filters through the waste, and, in doing this, the liquid draws out and concentrates a variety of chemicals or other substances present in the waste.

At the MAX Environmental Yukon Facility, this is of particular concern because accepted oil and gas solid waste is known to contain radioactive materials that, in turn, can produce leachate that is also radioactive.

Previous data has shown that leachate at landfills accepting this waste had frequent concentrations of radium-226 and radium-228 present that exceeded the maximum contaminant level.

The presence of radium-226 and radium-228 is of great concern for individuals’ health.

The decay chain of radium involves the release of radiation. Exposure to radiation has been linked to causing various types of cancers, such as lymphomas, leukemia, and bone cancer.

EHP’s factsheet, Risks from Liquid, Sludge and Solid Waste from Shale Gas Development, further explains the exposure pathways and health impacts of shale gas industry waste.

The blog post notes MAX Environmental withdrew its application to expand the facility in February 2023.  The post continues--

The harm caused by MAX Environmental continues even without the Landfill 7 expansion. Tina is focused on pushing MAX to fulfill their Landfill 6 permit requirement to provide an emergency response plan to nearby residents.

Among her requests to the corporate giant that looms so large over Yukon: a distinct siren for a chemical event at the plant and emergency supplies stored in case of emergency evacuation.

“This stuff has to go somewhere,” Tina says of the hazardous waste stored in her community. “People are worried about fracking. This is where fracking comes to die. And if it has to come to Yukon, it needs to be stored safely and properly regulated.”

Click Here to read the entire post.

Delisting The MAX Hazardous Waste

At the request of MAX Environmental, DEP and the Environmental Quality Board are considering a regulation change to delist the sludge generated from the treatment disposal impoundment and landfill leachate as a hazardous waste from both the Yukon and Bulger facilities.

The proposed regulation was published for comment in January 2022 when three virtual hearings were held.  Read more here.

A final version of the regulation was discussed with DEP’s Solid Waste Advisory Committee in December.  There is no timetable on when the regulation is to be finalized.  Status of rulemaking.

For more information, visit DEP’s MAX Environmental Delisting Hazardous Waste webpage.

(Photo: Yukon Facility waste treatment area, courtesy Marcellus Air.)

(Reprinted from the Environmental Health Project website.)

Related Articles - Oil & Gas Waste:

-- DEP: PA Fracking Operations Sent Nearly 236,000 Cubic Feet Of Radioactive TENORM Waste To Low-Level Radioactive Waste Facilities For Disposal In 2021 - 811,070 since 2016  [PaEN]

-- Conventional Oil & Gas Well Owners Failed To File Annual Production/Waste Generation Reports For 61,655 Wells; Attorney General Continues Investigation Of Road Dumping Wastewater [PaEN]

-- DEP Report Finds: Conventional Oil & Gas Drillers Routinely Abandon Wells; Fail To Report How Millions Of Gallons Of Waste Is Disposed; And Non-Compliance Is An ‘Acceptable Norm’  [PaEN]

-- Millions Of Gallons Of Conventional Oil & Gas Wastewater Spread Illegally On Dirt Roads, Companies Fail To Comply With DEP Waste Regulations  [PaEN]

-- DEP Assesses $600,000 Penalty For Illegal Disposal Of Over 1,800 Truck Loads Of Oil & Gas Waste Drill Cuttings In Fayette County  [PaEN]

-- Shale Gas & Public Health Conference: Economically, Socially Deprived Areas In PA Have A Much Greater Chance Of Having Oil & Gas Waste Disposed In Their Communities - By Joan Casey, PhD, Assistant Professor of Environmental Health Sciences, Columbia Mailman School of Public Health  [PaEN]

-- Public Herald: Public Records Show PA Has 10,543 Injection Wells Where Conventional Oil & Gas Drilling Wastewater Is Often Used For Enhanced Recovery Of Oil & Gas  [PaEN]

-- Penn State Research: PFAS 'Forever Chemicals' Persist Through Wastewater Treatment, May Enter Crops - By Penn State News [PaEN]

-- Conventional Oil & Gas Drillers Reported Spreading 977,671 Gallons Of Untreated Drilling Wastewater On PA Roads In 2021  [PaEN]

-- DEP Lists 84 Townships As ‘Waste Facilities’ Where Conventional Oil & Gas Wastewater Has Been Disposed Of By Road Spreading; Municipalities Need To Do Their Due Diligence [PaEN]

PA Oil & Gas Public Notice Dashboards:

-- Pennsylvania Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - March 11 to 17; Fracking 2 Wells Interfered With Another Shale Gas Well In Westmoreland County  [PaEN]

-- PA Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities: Permit Notices/Opportunities To Comment - March 18 [PaEN]

-- DEP Posts 62 Pages Of Permit-Related Notices In March 18 PA Bulletin  [PaEN]

PA Oil & Gas Compliance Reports

-- Feature: 60 Years Of Fracking, 20 Years Of Shale Gas: Pennsylvania’s Oil & Gas Industrial Infrastructure Is Hiding In Plain Sight [PaEN]

-- Conventional Oil & Gas Well Owners Failed To File Annual Production/Waste Generation Reports For 61,655 Wells; Attorney General Continues Investigation Of Road Dumping Wastewater  [PaEN]

-- DEP Issued 754 Notices Of Violation For Defective Oil & Gas Well Casing, Cementing, The Fundamental Protection Needed To Prevent Gas Migration, Groundwater & Air Contamination, Explosions  [PaEN]

-- DEP Report Finds: Conventional Oil & Gas Drillers Routinely Abandon Wells; Fail To Report How Millions Of Gallons Of Waste Is Disposed; And Non-Compliance Is An ‘Acceptable Norm’  [PaEN]

-- DEP 2021 Oil & Gas Program Annual Report Shows Conventional Oil & Gas Operators Received A Record 610 Notices Of Violation For Abandoning Wells Without Plugging Them  [PaEN]

-- PA Oil & Gas Industry Has Record Year: Cost, Criminal Convictions Up; $3.1 Million In Penalties Collected; Record Number Of Violations Issued; Major Compliance Issues Uncovered; Evidence Of Health Impacts Mounts  [PaEN]

Related Articles This Week:

-- PA Capital-Star Guest Essay: Why Your Electric/Natural Gas Utility Bill Has Gone Up And What You Can Do About It - By Patrick Cicero, Consumer Advocate Of PA, Terrance Fitzpatrick, Energy Assn. Of PA [Natural Gas Prices Tripled]

-- Wall Street Journal: Why Natural Gas Bills Are Going Crazy, With No End In Sight

-- Marcellus Drilling News: New Fortress Energy Reapplying For Wyalusing LNG Natural Gas Plant Permits In Bradford County  [PaEN]

-- U.S. DOT Misses Deadline To Suspend Rule Allowing Shipping LNG Natural Gas By Rail, Including A Proposal In PA  [PaEN]

-- Federal Court Rules Challenge To DEP Air Quality Permit For Adelphia Natural Gas Pipeline' Quakertown Compressor Station May Go Forward  [PaEN]

-- Environmental Groups Appeal DEP Permits For Transco Regional Energy Access Expansion Natural Gas Pipeline In Luzerne, Monroe Counties  [PaEN]

-- DEP To Submit Letter Of Intent To EPA As Early As This Week For Primacy To Regulate Underground Injection Wells  [PaEN]

-- PA Business Groups Urge EPA To Speed Up Approval Of State Primacy Applications For Injection Well Regulation [PaEN]

-- Equitrans/DEP In Discussions To Resolve EHB Appeal Of DEP’s Order To Fix Cambria County Underground Natural Gas Storage Area Conventional Access Wells  [PaEN]

-- Shell Petrochemical Plant Had 3-Hour Emergency Flaring Event To Burn Off Flammable Gases In Beaver County  [PaEN]

-- Commonwealth Court Rules PUC Is ‘Obligated’ To Conduct An Environmental Review Of Projects By The Environmental Rights Amendment In Case Involving A PECO Natural Gas Pumping Station In Delaware County  [PaEN]

-- Environmental Health Project: 75% Of Hazardous Waste Accepted At MAX Environmental Yukon Facility In Westmoreland County Comes From Shale Gas Industry; Sludge Proposed To Be Delisted As Hazardous Waste  [PaEN]

-- Marcellus Drilling News/Wellsboro Gazette: Pine Creek Headwaters Protection Group Objects To Location Of Mt. Nessmuk Shale Gas Drill Pad In Tioga State Forest  [PaEN]

-- Susquehanna River Basin Commission Approves 6 Natural Gas Drilling Water Withdrawal Renewals For 7.1 Million Gallons/Day  [PaEN]

-- Environmental Defense Fund, Clean Air Council, Environmental Health Project Sponsor Ad Campaign To Finalize Strong EPA Oil & Gas Methane Emission Limits To Protect PA's Health & Climate  [PaEN]

-- March 29 Southeastern PA Town Hall Meeting In Chester County To Focus On Health, Environmental Impacts Of Fossil Fuels  [PaEN]

-- Pennsylvania's Clean Energy Economy Grew To Over 92,700 Jobs Since COVID Economic Crisis  [PaEN]

[Posted: March 13, 2023]


3/20/2023

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