| | | |

Marcellus Well Pad Liners Get Recycled

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:

Read More “Marcellus Well Pad Liners Get Recycled”

| | | | |

The Economics of Shale Cuttings and Landfills

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.

Read More “The Economics of Shale Cuttings and Landfills”

| | |

Scranton Suburb Ends Objection to Shale Cuttings at Landfill

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).

Read More “Scranton Suburb Ends Objection to Shale Cuttings at Landfill”

| | | | |

Why Sunbury, PA Mayor Supports Marcellus Waste Facility

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:

Read More “Why Sunbury, PA Mayor Supports Marcellus Waste Facility”

| | | | |

Marcellus Waste Processing Facility Planned for Sunbury, PA

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”

| | |

Scranton Landfill Request for More Shale Cuttings Approved

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).

Read More “Scranton Landfill Request for More Shale Cuttings Approved”

| | |

Scranton Landfill Applies for Permit to Mill Marcellus Cuttings

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.

Read More “Scranton Landfill Applies for Permit to Mill Marcellus Cuttings”

| | | | |

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

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.

Read More “Washington County, PA Landfill Wants to Accept Semi-Solid Waste from Marcellus Drillers”