Groups File Suit Against Frack Water Treatment Facility

Susan Phillips

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Susan Phillips tells stories about the consequences of political decisions on people's every day lives. She has worked as a reporter for WHYY since 2004. Susan's coverage of the 2008 Presidential election resulted in a story on the front page of the New York Times. In 2010 she traveled to Haiti to cover the earthquake. That same year she produced an award-winning series on Pennsylvania's natural gas rush called "The Shale Game." She received a 2013 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Journalism Award for her work covering natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania. She has also won several Edward R. Murrow awards for her work with StateImpact. In 2013/14 she spent a year at MIT as a Knight Science Journalism Fellow. She has also been a Metcalf Fellow, an MBL Logan Science Journalism Fellow and reported from Marrakech on the 2016 climate talks as an International Reporting Project Fellow. A graduate of Columbia School of Journalism, she earned her Bachelor's degree in International Relations from George Washington University.

July 19, 2011 | 3:17 PM

Two environmental groups filed a federal lawsuit today, targeting the treatment of frack water in Pennsylvania. It’s the first suit to target gas drilling in Pennsylvania under the federal Clean Water Act. The lawsuit says the town of McKeesport discharged 100,000 gallons of the waste water each day since 2008. Water from gas drilling contains high levels of salts, possible carcinogens and potential radiologicals.
Clean Water Action and Three Rivers Waterkeeper are suing the town, saying McKeesport officials failed to get the necessary permits to discharge drilling waste water into the Mononghahela River. The Mononghahela supplies drinking water for half a million people in the Pittsburgh area. The suit also names the Department of Environmental Protection, saying the watch-dog agency did not enforce federal drinking water regulations by turning a blind-eye toward the practice.
The lawsuit says the facility is not equipped to remove hazardous materials found in frack water. Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, uses a combination of water, sand and chemicals shot deep into the earth, at high pressure to release the gas. Some of that water returns to the surface, with materials that have long been buried beneath the ground such as salts.
In April, the Department of Environmental Protection asked municipal treatment centers to voluntarily stop taking the wastewater. The lawsuit asks for an injunction to stop the McKeesport facility from taking any gas drilling waste water.