Poorly Regulated Oil and Gas Waste Injection

Published on by in Social

Poorly Regulated Oil and Gas Waste Injection

Drinking Water at Risk From Poorly Regulated Oil and Gas Waste Injection

Yesterday the Government Accountability Office (GAO)released an eagerly awaited reporton the state of something called the Underground Injection Control program. This program, aka "UIC," is designed toprotect underground sources of drinking water from the underground injection of fluids, under the authority of the Safe Drinking Water Act. While fracking is exempt from the SDWA due to the notorious "Halliburton Loophole," the underground injection of oil and gas wastewater is not. Wells into which oil and gas wastewater is injected are known as "Class II wells" in the UIC program. Oil and gas wastewater, including both fracking flowback and/or produced water, is injected into Class II wells either for disposal or to enhance recovery of residual oil and gas reserves.

The wastwater can contain benzene and other volatile organic compounds, heavy metals, radioactive materials, and more, and can be quite toxic. The GAO report evaluated U.S. EPA's oversight of the Class II program. Some states administer the program because they applied for primacy and met EPA's approval. In other states, EPA administers the program directly. GAO reviewed the program in six states that have primacy and in two states where EPA has primacy. Each state reviewed had among the highest number of UIC wells in their region.

Extensive investigations byProPublicaand complaints from communities in Ohio, West Virginia, andTexashave made clear that the UIC program is completely unprepared to safely regulate the huge amount of dangerous oil and gas wastewater. That is why NRDC has called for, among other things, federal regulations that would ensure this waste is subject to hazardous waste safeguards. Thisnew GAO report confirmswhat communities across the country have known for years: drinking water is at risk.

Source: Switchboard

Read More Related Content On This Topic - Click Here

Media

Taxonomy