Environmental Groups Sue EPA Over Fracking Wastewater

Fracking continues to be a growing problem around certain parts of the U.S., with environmental groups recently bringing their concerns to court.

Hydraulic fracturing, as it is also known, produces wastewater that is often pumped into underground wells for disposal. This practice has been linked to a growing number of earthquakes in Oklahoma, Colorado, Ohio and other states.

According to The Washington Post, there are a number of environmental groups suing the U.S. EPA saying that the government has failed to adequately regulate how companies dispose of waste created by oil and gas drilling.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, seeks to force the agency to impose stricter rules on the disposal of wastewater, including that from fracking. The wastewater is typically pumped into underground wells, a practice that may cause earthquakes.

Oklahoma, for example, has been plagued with earthquakes In 2014, 567 quakes of at least 3.0 magnitude rocked a swath of counties from the state capitol to the Kansas line.

Scientists implicated the oil and gas industry — in particular, the deep wastewater disposal wells that have been linked to a dramatic increase in seismic activity across the central U.S.

The Columbus Dispatch reported that the groups argue that the EPA has neglected to revise its existing rules for nearly three decades and would like the agency to require landfills or ponds to be built with liners and structural safeguards.

“These rules are almost 30 years overdue,” Adam Kron, a senior attorney at the Environmental Integrity Project, told The Washington Post.

Kron added that despite the millions of gallons of wastewater and tons of solid waste that a drilling well can produce, the EPA has kept inadequate regulations.

Last year, the EPA concluded a lengthy years-long review of U.S. fracking operations practices, saying that it had found no evidence of widespread damage to drinking water supplies. However, the agency did warn about the potential for contamination from the controversial technique.

“Waste from the oil and gas industry is very often toxic and should be treated that way,” Amy Mall, a senior policy analyst at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said. “Right now, companies can get rid of their toxic mess in any number of dangerous ways, from spraying it on icy roads, to sending it to landfills with our everyday household trash, to injecting it underground where it can endanger drinking water and trigger earthquakes. EPA must step in and protect our communities and drinking water from the carcinogens, radioactive material and other dangerous substances that go hand-in-hand with oil and gas waste.”

To read more about fracking wastewater visit Water Online’s Produced Water Treatment Solutions Center.