Landfills

Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Landfills | Ohio | Regulation | Statewide OH | Wastewater

ODNR Wants Fracking Regs Added Back to Kasich Budget Bill
May 1, 2013May 1, 2013

On Monday, the head of the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources, James Zehringer, asked Ohio Senators to restore a number of non-budget-related oil and gas provisions to the budget bill scrapped by the House in the version they passed. The provisions could be brought back if the Senate includes them and the final version is agreed to in committee.

The provisions Zehringer wants added back?…
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Crime | Industrywide Issues | Landfills | Mahoning County | Ohio | Wastewater

Alleged New Case of Illegal Shale Waste Dumping in OH
May 1, 2013May 1, 2013

An Ohio company close to the Pennsylvania border has been accused of illegally accepting and disposing of (burying) drilling wastewater and drill cuttings. Since the landfill where the material is buried sits close to the Mahoning River, there is a concern that some nasty substances may have or are leaking into the river.

An alphabet soup of OH state and federal government agencies served Soil Remediation Inc. in Lowellville (Mahoning County), OH with a search warrant early last week…
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Energy Companies | Greene County (PA) | Industrywide Issues | Landfills | Pennsylvania | Rice Energy | Westmoreland County

Marcellus Drill Cuttings Set Off Radiation Alarm at SW PA Landfill
April 23, 2013April 23, 2013

A truck with Marcellus Shale drill cuttings entering a landfill in Westmoreland County, PA triggered a radiation alarm last Friday. The truck was quarantined and after finding that yes indeed, the cuttings were a tad too radioactive for disposal at the landfill, the truck was sent back to the drilling site in Greene County.

The details:

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Industrywide Issues | Landfills | Ohio | Stark County

Concerns about Radioactive Drill Cuttings in OH Landfill
January 7, 2013January 7, 2013

A controversy is brewing in Stark County where a private landfill wants to build a 12-mile pipeline to carry landfill liquids (called leachate) to the Canton municipal sewage treatment plant for treatment and disposal into the Nimishillen Creek, which in turn runs into the Tuscarawas River. The “problem” is that the landfill accepts Utica Shale drill cuttings—leftover mud, rock and dirt from drilling operations.

One Stark County official, Councilwoman-at-large Mary Cirelli, is concerned the drill cuttings at the landfill will create leachate with high levels of radioactivity and if treated at the Canton sewage plant, it will contaminate the Tuscarawas River. Similar scenarios with concerns over radioactive drill cuttings has played out in Marcellus Shale locations as well (see this MDN story). Those locations, which now accept drill cuttings, have no reported instances of radioactive leachate.

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Industrywide Issues | Landfills | New York | Steuben County | Wastewater

Does Steuben County, NY Landfill Accept Drilling Wastewater?
November 7, 2012November 7, 2012

The Steuben County landfill in Bath, NY was approved and ready to accept shale cuttings (leftover soil and rock from drilling) at the landfill in early August of this year (see this MDN story). They now are accepting some shale cuttings. Earlier this week a local environmental lawyer raised concerns at a meeting of the county Legislature’s Public Works Committee that the landfill may also be receiving flowback water—water that comes back up out of the bore hole after drilling—in the landfill along with shale cuttings. Flowback has high concentrations of minerals making it salty or “briny.”

County Public Works Commissioner Vince Spagnoletti said the landfill does not accept flowback direct from drillers. However, the landfill does accept some treated wastewater from another landfill. Here’s the details:

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Industrywide Issues | Lackawanna County | Landfills | Pennsylvania

Scranton Landfill Wants to Double (Again) Shale Cuttings
October 5, 2012October 5, 2012

The Keystone Sanitary Landfill, located on the borders of Dunmore and Throop, PA (Scranton suburbs) applied to the state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) last December to increase the amount of Marcellus shale cuttings—rock and soil leftover after drilling—from 600 tons to 1,000 tons per day. They also applied to accept “unprocessed” cuttings from drillers (see this MDN story for background).

The permit was granted in early March. Elected officials in Throop fought the increase but eventually dropped their fight from lack of interest and money (see this MDN story). Keystone just filed a new request to double the amount of cuttings again, from 1,000 to 2,000 tons per day. They also want trucks to be allowed to haul it in 24/7.

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Industrywide Issues | Landfills | New York | Steuben County

Steuben County, NY Landfill Ready to Accept Shale Cuttings
August 8, 2012August 8, 2012

The Steuben County landfill in Bath, NY is now approved and ready to accept “shale cuttings,” or leftover soil and rock that comes from shale gas drilling. They join neighboring Chemung County that has accepted shale cuttings for over a year now, and Allegany County.

Although they don’t expect to receive much in the way of cuttings this year from Pennsylvania drillers because of a slowdown in drilling, Steuben officials want to be ready “just in case” Marcellus drilling in New York ramps up.

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Landfills | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Marcellus Well Pad Liners Get Recycled
July 26, 2012July 26, 2012

Every Marcellus Shale well drilled has a heavy-duty plastic liner. When the well is finished being drilled, that plastic liner is usually disposed in a landfill. An interesting new joint venture between two Pennsylvania companies, WellSpring Environmental Services and Ultra-Poly Corporation, aims to recycle those pad liners. According to the companies, they will remove 20 million pounds of plastic well pad liner each year from the waste stream and ultimately turn it into products like composite railroad ties and building materials. The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection has already granted the two companies their blessing (and permission) for the plan.

Once again capitalism and the free market (not government regulation) solves the problem. From the WellSpring news release:

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Bradford County | Chemung County | Industrywide Issues | Landfills | New York | Pennsylvania

The Economics of Shale Cuttings and Landfills
June 8, 2012June 8, 2012

Some of what comes out of the holes drilled for natural gas wells is rock and dirt. More precisely, a substance called “shale cuttings.” According to the MDN glossary, shale cuttings are: “Small pieces of rock that break away during the drilling process. Cuttings are screened out of the liquid mud by using shale shakers, or screens that allow the liquid to pass through but filter out the bits of rock.”

Since 2010 the municipal landfill in Bradford County, PA has accepted shale cuttings, making a tidy sum from it ($130,000). But the cuttings, and the revenue, stopped at the end of 2011. Why? Bradford County charges more than other landfills, like the municipal landfill across the border in Chemung County, NY. Not surprisingly, drillers haul their cuttings to cheaper landfills instead.

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Industrywide Issues | Lackawanna County | Landfills | Pennsylvania

Scranton Suburb Ends Objection to Shale Cuttings at Landfill
May 1, 2012May 1, 2012

Opposition from a local township to a landfill outside of Scranton, PA that sought and was granted a permit to accept more shale cuttings has ended. Keystone Sanitary Landfill, a privately owned and operated municipal solid waste landfill located in Dunmore, PA applied to increase the daily volume of shale cuttings (leftover rock waste from drilling) from 600 to 1,000 tons per day. They also requested the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) change their permit so they could receive the cuttings in an “unprocessed or unsolidified form” (see this MDN story).

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Clean Harbors Environmental | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Landfills | Northumberland County | Pennsylvania

Why Sunbury, PA Mayor Supports Marcellus Waste Facility
March 29, 2012March 29, 2012

As MDN reported yesterday, Clean Harbors Environmental Services of Norwell, Mass. wants to build a Marcellus Shale waste processing facility in Sunbury, PA (see this MDN story). Some area residents are not happy about it, but not so with Mayor David Persing. He supports it and offers his thinking and rationale for supporting the proposed project:

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Clean Harbors Environmental | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Landfills | Northumberland County | Pennsylvania

Marcellus Waste Processing Facility Planned for Sunbury, PA
March 28, 2012March 28, 2012

Clean Harbors Environmental Services of Norwell, Mass. has applied for a permit to build a “waste processing facility” in Sunbury (Northumberland County), PA. The facility will accept up to 1,000 tons of Marcellus Shale drill cuttings, drilling mud and other materials per day. Although the waste is not toxic, some local officials are concerned and upset that the state DEP alone will make a decision about whether or not to approve the permit (Sunbury has no say in the matter). Sunbury mayor David Persing supports the new facility.

Read More “Marcellus Waste Processing Facility Planned for Sunbury, PA”
Industrywide Issues | Lackawanna County | Landfills | Pennsylvania

Scranton Landfill Request for More Shale Cuttings Approved
March 6, 2012March 6, 2012

Exactly one month ago MDN reported that Keystone Sanitary Landfill, a privately owned and operated municipal solid waste landfill located in Dunmore, PA (a Scranton suburb), had applied to increase the daily volume of shale cuttings (leftover rock waste from drilling) from 600 to 1,000 tons per day. They also requested from the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) a change so they could receive the cuttings in an “unprocessed or unsolidified form” (see this MDN story).

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Industrywide Issues | Lackawanna County | Landfills | Pennsylvania

Scranton Landfill Applies for Permit to Mill Marcellus Cuttings
February 6, 2012February 6, 2012

For years, the Keystone Sanitary Landfill, a privately owned and operated municipal solid waste landfill located in Dunmore, PA (a Scranton suburb) has accepted already-processed cuttings, or rock waste, from Marcellus Shale drillers. The landfill filed a permit application in December with the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) that would allow it to accept unprocessed cuttings—cuttings in a non-solid form—and mix it with a lime-based material to solidify it. The process of mixing it is called milling.

The landfill uses milled cuttings as a soil replacement to cover the landfill at the end of each day.

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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Landfills | MAX Environmental | Pennsylvania | Washington County

Washington County, PA Landfill Wants to Accept Semi-Solid Waste from Marcellus Drillers
July 19, 2011July 19, 2011

An industrial landfill in Washington County, PA that already accepts “solid waste” from Marcellus Shale drilling operations is now seeking permission to also accept semi-solid waste from Marcellus Shale drilling.

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