State Attorney General Kathleen Kane has filed 64 criminal charges against the owner of a Northumberland County company that hauls waste and equipment for the natural gas industry. The extensive list of charges against Milton-based Minuteman include multiple counts of fraud and criminal conspiracy related to illegal dumping and overbilling major natural gas companies. The [...]
Many drillers are already recycling the wastewater that flows back to the surface after fracking a well. Now, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports the Pennsylvania Independent Oil and Gas Association (PIOGA) wants the state Department of Environmental Protection to allow companies to reuse drill cuttings – rocks and dirt that are pried loose when a well [...]
Federal environmental regulators issued a permit on Friday for an underground injection well in Clearfield County that will be used to dispose of oil and gas waste liquids. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved the permit for Windfall Oil and Gas of Falls Creek, Pa. to build and operate a disposal well in Brady Township. The [...]
Demand from natural gas drillers has prompted the U.S. Coast Guard to propose allowing fracking wastewater to be transported on barges. But under the proposal, the Coast Guard won’t allow it unless they know what’s in it. Many operators recycle wastewater and store it on site, while much of it gets shipped on trucks and rail cars [...]
The United States Coast Guard has a proposal to allow shale gas drillers to transport fracking waste water on barges. From the Pittsburgh Times Tribune: The Coast Guard did not cite environmental risks in its policy proposal but focused on the threat to barge workers. It may allow barge transport if companies analyze the chemicals [...]
Residents in Fayette County are concerned natural gas drilling waste may be causing an unpleasant smell emanating from a nearby landfill. The state Department of Environmental Protection has agreed to bring in a mobile lab to investigate. From KDKA-TV Pittsburgh:
Waste from the state’s Marcellus Shale industry has been triggering radioactivity alarms at landfills, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The article notes that last year nearly 1,000 trucks carrying 15,769 tons of gas drilling waste were stopped at Pennsylvania landfill gates after tripping the alarms: The trucks were pulled to the side, wanded with hand-held detectors [...]
Clean Water Action says the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental of Protection continues to allow oil and gas waste water to be discharged into the Allegheny River. The environmental group says Waste Treatment Corporation is dumping high levels of chloride, bromide, lithium, strontium, radium-226, and radium-228 into the river without a current permit. Clean Water Action director [...]
A Northumberland County business that was raided by federal and state officials yesterday has issued a statement denying any wrongdoing. Minuteman Environmental Services in Milton bills itself as an “oil and gas field services” company. It hauls waste and equipment for the natural gas industry. Agents from the FBI, the state attorney general’s office, Pennsylvania Department [...]
WNEP-TV reports federal and state officials raided an environmental services company this morning in Milton, Northumberland County. Minuteman Environmental Services bills itself as an “oil and gas field services” company. It hauls waste and equipment for the natural gas industry. From WNEP: The raid at the Minuteman Environmental Services in the Milton Industrial Park began [...]
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