Will EPA Allow Treated Frack Wastewater Disposal in Lakes, Rivers?
In May the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a draft report titled “Study of Oil and Gas Extraction Wastewater Management Under the Clean Water Act” (see EPA Draft Study re Disposing Frack Wastewater in Lakes, Rivers). The study examines the possibility of treating oil and gas wastewater and releasing the cleaned-up wastewater into lakes and rivers, instead of injecting it back down holes in the ground. EPA accepted public comments on the draft report until last Monday. The oil and gas industry provided comments last week supporting the plan to recycle and dispose of wastewater on the surface.
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Yet another attack on the shale industry by two Pittsburgh Post-Gazette “reporters” (propagandists) who have made a career of unfairly attacking shale–Don Hopey and David Templeton. This latest smear job makes the claim that leachate coming from a landfill piped to a municipal wastewater treatment facility is “contaminated” with all sorts of nasty chemicals (what the heck do you think is in leachate, anyway?!). The claim is the chemicals in the leachate are present because of drillers dumping leftover rock and dirt that comes out of the ground when drilling new holes for shale wells into the landfill.
A year ago we told you about the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) launching a new study examining the possibility of treating oil and gas wastewater and (gasp) releasing the cleaned-up wastewater into lakes and rivers, instead of injecting it back down holes in the ground (see 
Are underground shale wastewater pipelines the “next big thing” for the Pennsylvania midstream (i.e. pipeline) industry? According to Thomas Karam, CEO of Equitrans Midstream Corp. (formerly EQT Midstream), they just may be. Most of Equitrans’ pipeline business is flowing natural gas. A little bit of their business is dedicated to flowing wastewater. Karam wants to grow that little bit into a much bigger bit.
A joint announcement between Kendra II LLC and De Nora says a new wastewater recycling facility aimed at the shale industry will go online in late May providing drillers in the “heart of the Marcellus Shale” (in Susquehanna County, PA) a new option to recycle and reuse produced water…up to 18,000 barrels a day.
Pennsylvania towns that pass sketchy local ordinances that skirt state laws are on notice: It’s going to cost you. Big. For the past several years we’ve reported on the case of Grant Township, PA that passed an ordinance cooked up by the radical Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) to try and block a state-approved injection well. The ordinance was tossed by a judge, and now the town will have to pay $102,000 in legal fees incurred by the operator.
The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) will hold a public hearing on April 15 to consider draft permits the agency has floated to allow two frack wastewater injection wells (Class II) in Coshocton County to be reclassified as Class I wells, allowing them to accept waste other than frack waste.
In early 2018, the federal EPA approved a new Marcellus wastewater injection well for the Pittsburgh suburb of Plum Borough (see 
Eureka Resources owns and operates three centralized treatment/recycling facilities that process flowback/produced waters (i.e. wastewater) from the Marcellus Shale. Two of the facilities are located in Williamsport (Lycoming County), PA, and one in Standing Stone Township (Bradford County), PA, near Towanda. Eureka has just announced a joint venture to use high tech to recover lithium from the Marcellus wastewater they process. How cool is that?!
In 2013 Eureka Resources built a Marcellus Shale wastewater treatment facility near Towanda (Bradford County), PA with a capacity to treat up to 10,000 barrels of wastewater per day (see 
Three families who live near a former drill site and frack wastewater impoundment at the Yeager Marcellus Shale site in Washington County, PA sued Range Resources in May 2012 claiming the air they breathe and the water they drink had been contaminated by Range’s operations at the site (see 