DEP Asks Drillers to Stop Disposing Wastewater at Plants
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
20 April 2011
By Don Hopey and Sean D. Hamill
Because Marcellus Shale gas drilling wastewater discharges are
significant contributors to high concentrations of bromides and other
dissolved solids in rivers and streams used for public drinking water
sources, the state has asked drilling operators to voluntarily stop
disposing wastewater at 16 municipal sewage and commercial treatment
plants.
The Department of Environmental Protection request -- which is not a
departmental "order" that carries legal weight -- would have drillers
halt a wastewater disposal practice that had been criticized by the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and environmental groups but that
the DEP has allowed at select facilities despite stricter water
discharge standards passed in December. The primary treatment those
facilities provide is dilution.
The DEP request, approved by Gov. Tom Corbett, gives drillers until May
19 to stop taking Marcellus Shale drilling wastewater to the treatment
facilities.
"We believe we can achieve voluntary compliance," said Katy Gresh, a
DEP spokeswoman. "At 30 days we will revisit this and see how many
comply. We could then use our authority to take the next step with the
treatment facilities or drilling industry or both."
Those facilities include the Clairton City Municipal Authority and
McKeesport City Municipal Authority, both in Allegheny County;
Johnstown Redevelopment Authority, Cambria County; Ridgway Borough
Wastewater Treatment Plant, Elk County; Franklin Township Sewage
Authority, Greene County; Tunnelton Liquids Co., Josephine Treatment,
and Hart Resource Technologies Inc., all in Indiana County; Brockway
Area Sewage Authority, Punxsutawney Borough Municipal Authority, and
Reynoldsville Borough
Authority, all in Jefferson County; New Castle City Sanitation
Authority, Lawrence County; Sunbury Generation, Snyder County; Franklin
Brine Treatment Corp., Venango County; Waste Treatment Corp., Warren
County; and the Kiski Valley Water Pollution Control Authority,
Westmoreland County.
As the DEP made its request Tuesday morning, the Marcellus Shale
Coalition said for the first time that drilling wastewater discharges
into rivers and streams were partly responsible for higher levels of
certain pollutants, including bromides, that have been measured by
researchers in Western Pennsylvania's waterways.
"Research by Carnegie Mellon University and Pittsburgh Water and Sewer
Authority experts suggests that the natural gas industry is a
contributing factor to elevated levels of bromide in the Allegheny and
Beaver rivers," said Kathryn Klaber, president and executive director
of the coalition of Marcellus Shale drilling industry companies. "We
are committed to leading efforts, and working alongside DEP and other
stakeholders, to address these issues quickly and straightforwardly,
and support the appropriate action taken by DEP today."
She said the coalition, which represents almost all of the companies
drilling Marcellus Shale deep gas wells in the state, recognizes that
the DEP request is not a legally enforceable order, but is taking it
seriously.
"This is the time to step up," Ms. Klaber said. "What the public is
asking of us is a level of confidence that the commonwealth's waterways
are being treated by the natural gas industry with the respect and care
it deserves."
The drilling and hydraulic fracturing wastewater from Marcellus wells
contains high concentrations of dissolved solids, including bromides, a
non-toxic salt compound that reacts with disinfectants used by
municipal treatment plants to create brominated trihalomethanes, also
known as THMs.
Studies show a link between ingestion of and exposure to THMs and
several types of cancer and birth defects. Because of high THM levels,
several public drinking water suppliers have had to issue advisories to
customers and change treatment methods to reduce the THM levels in
finished water.
Water quality studies on the Allegheny River, where the Pittsburgh
Water and Sewer Authority draws water for its 400,000 customers, and on
the Monongahela River, have found the Marcellus Shale wastewater
discharges are big contributors to the problem. Jeanne VanBriesen, a
Carnegie Mellon University professor of civil and environmental
engineering, who conducted the studies on the Mon, said bromide levels
spiked in July and have remained high.
"On the Mon, which has more sources, including power plants and
industry, it's more difficult to tell, but on the Allegheny it's clear
that the discharges from treatment plants are significant
contributors," Ms. VanBriesen said. "I do expect, with the removal of
the waste stream, we will see bromide levels come down."
DEP Secretary Michael Krancer said his agency made its request based on
the more definitive scientific data and with the knowledge that
drilling companies are able to recycle more of their wastewater.
The number of municipal and commercial facilities that were allowed to
take drilling wastewater under a "grandfathered" accommodation has
dropped since last year from 27 to 16, the DEP said, because some
drilling operators recycled increased amounts of water and some
treatment facilities voluntarily decided to stop accepting it.
The Environmental Protection Agency requires all treatment facilities
to get a permit before they can discharge wastewater into rivers and
streams. In theory, the permits limit how dirty the effluent can be
when discharged into a river and ensure that the water quality doesn't
degrade.
But Pennsylvania, which administers the EPA permit program within its
borders, initially lacked a clear regulatory scheme to deal with the
big increases in volume created by the gas boom and wasn't initially
aware that some facilities had begun handling the waste.
Since then, the state has enacted tougher water quality standards. The
new rules, adopted last year, allow existing treatment plants to
continue operating with few changes, but will require new facilities to
meet strict targets for dissolved solids and chlorides.
The DEP said recent surface water sampling found elevated levels of
bromide in Western Pennsylvania's rivers.
"While there are several possible sources for bromide other than shale
drilling wastewater, we believe that if operators would stop giving
wastewater to facilities that continue to accept it under the special
provision, bromide concentrations would quickly and significantly
decrease," Mr. Krancer said in a DEP release.
Ms. Gresh said there are four other wastewater treatment plants
operating in the state that will be able to continue to accept drilling
wastewater because they use technologies that can treat the dissolved
solids and salts. Two more are under construction.
Matt Pitzarella, a Range Resources spokesman, said the drilling company
supports the DEP request, even though its operations are not affected
because it recycles nearly all of its wastewater or has other disposal
and treatment options.
"One of the criticisms of the Marcellus industry is that we aren't
thinking long-term," he said. "This change shows our concern. We have
said we believe these issues are manageable and we were going to rely
on science to solve them."
Chief Oil & Gas Inc. said it has expanded its water recycling
program and no longer takes any wastewater to any of the grandfathered
treatment facilities.
Chevron Appalachian, another big driller in Pennsylvania, said it will
abide by the DEP request and will accelerate implementation of a water
management program to eliminate use of treatment facilities. The
company said it is already recycling 100 percent of its flowback water
-- the wastewater that returns to the surface with the gas after a well
is hydraulically fractured.
Environmental groups, including PennEnvironment, Citizens for
Pennsylvania's Future and Clean Water Action, were supportive of the
DEP's request that the industry stop using municipal treatment plants,
but are worried it doesn't go far enough.
Erika Staaf, PennEnvironment's clean water advocate, said the group has
been concerned for years about municipal facilities discharging
drilling wastewater they were not equipped to treat, and is happy the
DEP is taking steps to protect rivers, streams and public drinking
water sources.
"Amidst growing concern by the public and increased scrutiny by the
media, we are happy to see DEP finally take these critical steps to
once and for all stop dangerous, undertreated Marcellus Shale
wastewater from entering our waterways and drinking water supplies,"
Ms. Staaf said.
Myron Arnowitt, state director of Clean Water Action, questioned
whether treatment facilities and drilling companies will voluntarily
comply.
"It's great DEP finally recognizes it's a real problem," Mr. Arnowitt
said. "But on the flip side, the state needs to take some action and
not just make voluntary requests."
Don Hopey: dhopey@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1983. Sean D. Hamill:
shamill@post-gazette.com or 412-263-2579. Associated Press contributed.