State to Hold Public Hearings on Marcellus Shale Wastewater
First meeting set for 5 p.m. today in Cranberry
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
14 December 2009
By Don Hopey
The Pennsylvania Environmental Quality Board will hold four public
hearings this week, the first in Cranberry today, on new state water
quality standards aimed at controlling new sources of wastewater
pollution, including discharges produced by Marcellus Shale gas
drilling.
The state Department of Environmental Protection proposed the new
standards that target the new discharges of total dissolved solids. TDS
causes toxicity in streams and rivers by increasing salinity, and water
analyses of the state's major watersheds show that many rivers and
streams have "a very limited ability to assimilate additional TDS,
sulfates and chlorides," according to the Pennsylvania Bulletin notice
of proposed rulemaking.
A significant source of such pollution is the hundreds of gas drilling
operations that use hydraulic fracturing to release the natural gas
from the Marcellus Shale, a rock layer 5,000 to 8,000 feet below the
surface beneath two-thirds of the state. Each well can use 4 million to
8 million gallons of water and discharge up to half that amount.
Mine wastewater can also have very high TDS levels.
Water with high concentrations of TDS from mine discharges has been
blamed for creating conditions in Dunkard Creek that killed thousands
of fish, mussels and other aquatic life in 43 miles of the stream along
the Pennsylvania-West Virginia border, primarily in Greene County.
High TDS levels also have affected the taste of public drinking water
from companies that draw water from the Monongahela River and caused
concern about equipment damage in industries that use water from the
river. The river conditions caused the DEP to limit the amount of
Marcellus Shale wastewater that water treatment facilities on the river
could accept last year.
The Pennsylvania Campaign for Clean Water, a coalition of more than 150
watershed, environmental and community groups, is urging wide public
participation in the hearings to ensure the state enacts strong
regulations quickly to preserve the state's rivers and streams.
The state's rulemaking notice said no treatment exists for TDS,
sulfates and chlorides other than dilution, and because of the limited
capacity of the state's watersheds to assimilate the TDS loads,
"dilution can no longer be considered adequate treatment for high TDS
wastewaters."
The goal is to prohibit discharges of new sources of high-TDS
wastewater after Jan. 1, 2011.
The hearing today is at 5 p.m. in the Cranberry Township Municipal
Building, 2525 Rochester Road. Other hearings are scheduled for
tomorrow at the DEP's Cambria District office, 286 Industrial Park
Road, Ebensburg, Cambria County; Wednesday at the DEP Northcentral
Regional office, Goddard Conference Room, 208 West Third St., Suite
101, Williamsport, Lycoming County; and Thursday at the Lehigh County
Government Center, 17 S. Seventh St. Allentown, Lehigh County. All
hearings are at 5 p.m.
The comment period on the proposal closes on Feb. 12.
Don Hopey can be reached at dhopey@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1983.