Ban fracking waste anywhere in New Jersey: Romero
Gov, Phil Murphy’s call for a ban on fracking and the dumping of fracking waste in the Delaware River basin is a bold move to protect a clean drinking water source for millions. But if this toxic drilling waste is a danger to the Delaware, it’s a danger everywhere else. That’s why fracking waste should be banned across the Garden State.
A waste ban bill passed the state Senate in November, but it remains stymied in the Assembly. It’s time for Speaker Craig Coughlin to bring this measure up for a vote.
Here’s why fracking waste is a problem: Millions of gallons of fluid mixture (water, sand and chemicals) are pumped underground per well. The chemical waste that flows up to the surface can combine with naturally occurring contaminants underground such as benzene, arsenic and lead. Oil and gas wells in Pennsylvania generate hundreds of millions of gallons of this leftover toxic slurry, and it has to go somewhere. And the petrochemical industry may have their sights set on New Jersey.
This drilling waste creates an array of problems, from earthquakes linked to underground waste storage to the direct threat to waterways from waste spilled from trucks hauling it to treatment facilities. A recent study from Pennsylvania found evidence of chemical contamination in the shells of freshwater mussels even years after the industry had stopped dumping waste in nearby waterways.
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And the dangers that fracking waste pose to clean water and public health are likely more serious than we think. Fracking companies are allowed to keep the chemicals they pump into the ground a secret, which means that the toxic stew left over from drilling can wind up at conventional treatment facilities that are not equipped to treat radioactive material and other fracking-linked contaminants.
This dirty business could be on its way to our state. A law passed last summer would make it easier for the Chemours/DuPont Chamber Works facility in Salem County to get permits to accept outside hazardous waste. This same facility received more than 1 million gallons of fracking wastewater between 2009 and 2010, discharging the treated water into the Delaware River. Other facilities that have accepted drilling waste in the past.
The fight to ban fracking waste goes back to the Gov. Chris Christie years, when Democrats passed statewide ban bills but were unable to overcome the governor’s fossil fuel friendly vetoes. Things have changed considerably since then, with a new governor who aggressively advocates for a clean energy agenda.
As a candidate, Murphy championed a ban on fracking waste, citing the threat that it poses to drinking water and public health. Murphy’s recent letter to the Delaware River Basin Commission makes it clear that he has not wavered: He links a fracking ban to “our responsibility to protect public health and safeguard our natural resources for future generations.”
As we’ve learned over the past two years, the Trump White House poses a direct threat to many vital environmental and public health protections. That’s why states and municipalities are stepping up to protect residents and challenge his pro-polluter agenda. There is legislation to ban fracking waste under consideration in New York and in Connecticut. New Jersey has a chance to lead the way on banning fracking waste, an issue that touches on so many important environmental challenges of our time: Protecting clean water, limiting the dangers associated with fracking, and dramatically ramping up clean energy to combat the threat of climate chaos.
The only step left is for Coughlin to bring the fracking waste ban bill (A1329) to a vote, where it will likely pass by a wide margin. Coughlin himself previously voted for it. Banning fracking waste is important for protecting the Delaware River basin, but there’s no reason not to protect the whole state from the fracking industry’s toxic mess.
Junior Romero is the central Jersey organizer with the advocacy group Food & Water Watch.