The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection will now require all landfills that take solid fracking waste to test their leachate, or liquid waste, for radioactive materials common in oil and gas waste.  Landfills often send leachate, a liquid waste formed from rainwater that seeps through piles of waste, to treatment plants. They test it for dozens of potential pollutants. But they’ve never had to test it for radium, a radioactive material common in oil and gas waste. “We take seriously our responsibility and duty as an environmental steward,” Gov. Tom Wolf said in a statement. “This additional requirement will improve public confidence that public drinking water and our precious natural resources are being appropriately protected.”

The issue of radioactivity in landfill leachate garnered public attention in 2019. At the time, a Fayette County waste treatment plant suedto have a nearby landfill stop sending it leachate after the treatment plant found high amounts of oil and gas contaminants in the liquid waste.

The DEP said in the tests it ran on the leachate at that landfill and others, radium levels were below federal action levels. The tests “did not identify significant differences in radium levels between landfills that accept oil and gas waste compared to those that do not,” the DEP said in  a statement Monday. “Testing results in all cases were lower than effluent limits for (radium) established by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for facilities under its jurisdiction.”

To read the full story, visit https://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2021/07/26/dep-to-require-landfills-to-test-for-radioactivity-from-fracking-waste/.
Author: Reid Frazier, State Impact Pennsylvania
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State Impact Pennsylvania

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