Urge State Legislators to Protect NY's Water from Hazardous Waste!
May 4, 2011
Riverkeeper Team
To protect New York’s drinking water from fracking, state must close a loophole that allows the gas industry to avoid treating its hazardous waste properly.
Right now, the gas industry is exempt from New York State laws and regulations governing hazardous waste disposal. Even though a great deal of the wastewater generated by dirty gas drilling called hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” meets the state definition of hazardous waste, it’s not treated as such. We need to change that.
A bill in the New York State Legislature would update state law. If passed, all hazardous fracking waste would be subject to the same regulations for hazardous waste generation, transportation, treatment, storage, and disposal that apply to every other industry in the state. Is that too much to ask?
Riverkeeper doesn't think so. Hazardous waste is hazardous waste, no matter the source—and it must be dealt with properly to avoid harm to our water and communities.
The gas industry should not have a special exemption from laws governing the safe treatment and disposal of hazardous waste. From start to finish, fracking is an industrial process that jeopardizes the health and safety of our water and our communities.
We are asking you to take action now. New York is already receiving solid and liquid wastes from drilling operations in Pennsylvania. With Pennsylvania’s new decision to, effectively, ship most of its wastewaters out of state, the pressures for New York to accept that waste will only increase.
Please send your state representatives a letter asking them to protect New York from hazardous waste.
We must protect our health, water, and communities from dirty gas drilling in New York State.