Before Trump re-entered office in January, he walked the campaign trail spouting his “Drill Baby, Drill” rhetoric. Now, he’s fulfilling his promise to ramp up fossil fuel production under the guise of “national security” and winning the artificial intelligence race. This forecasts bad news for Pennsylvania, which has remained ground zero in the battle against fracking. 

As calls for more drilling and gas production ramp up, Pennsylvania is positioned to bear some of the worst impacts due to our state’s shale gas reserves. Despite Pennsylvania’s state Constitution guaranteeing us the right to clean air, pure water, and preservation of our environment, that isn’t our reality. We have the oil and gas industry to thank for that. 

The industry claims that fracking isn’t harmful, contradicting the myriad of scientific research backing up what communities have known for decades: oil and gas activity is harmful to environmental and public health. Every step of the process, from construction to drilling to production, creates pollution in abundance. Under Trump, things are set to get worse.

Radioactive Waste is an Unavoidable Part of Fracking 

In the past two decades, horizontal (unconventional) fracking has dominated the oil and gas industry. The technique enlists long laterals to go thousands of feet down into the Earth that then span for miles across. These laterals extract vast amounts of shale gas reserves previously inaccessible through vertical (conventional) drilling. And this process comes with a sinister consequence: radioactive material. 

The Marcellus and Utica shale lying beneath Appalachia contains naturally occurring radioactive material, which the fracking process drives to the surface. This radioactive waste is then called technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive material (TENORM). 

Radioactive Fracking Waste Contaminates Our Communities and Our Land

There is no safe way to dispose of or manage radioactive fracking waste, period. Nevertheless, the oil and gas industry most often disposes of its waste by dumping it in landfills, burying it on-site, or injecting it into wells deep underground. Each of these options comes with its own set of issues.

When radioactive fracking waste is accepted at over 30 landfills across the state, it creates toxic conditions for those nearby. Why? Because these aren’t special hazardous materials dumpsites. No, they are municipal landfills near places where people live, work, and go to school. Because fracking waste isn’t technically labeled “hazardous” thanks to industry loopholes, it doesn’t have to be disposed of as such. 

Fracking waste in landfills contributes to runoff called leachate — a toxic soup of rainwater that filters through a landfill and steeps in the waste. Leachate then flows into the ground, into our communities, into our surface waters like lakes and rivers, and even into groundwater resources deep underground.

Alternatively, a gas operator may apply for a special permit to bury solid waste on site, including radioactive waste like contaminated drill cuttings and pit liners. This can also prove an issue for our groundwater.

Finally, operators may “dispose” of fracking waste in injection wells, essentially burying it deep underground. This practice can contaminate drinking water supplies and even cause earthquakes. Though injection wells aren’t common in Pennsylvania, frackers in the state truck their waste to our neighbors in Ohio and saddle them with it.

Loopholes Allow Radioactive Fracking Waste to Poison Our Water

That’s not the only way TENORMS endanger our water supplies. 

Many rural Pennsylvanians still rely on private water wells for their drinking water. If a gas operator’s shoddy planning pollutes someone’s private water well, it can spell disaster for communities with limited resources. 

Unfortunately, the issue could go undiagnosed for weeks, months, and even years because the PA Department of Environmental Protection does not monitor private wells. This leaves people who don’t have access to public water systems with the burden and high costs of supplying their own water.

Our freshwater is a precious, limited resource, and we should protect it. Unfortunately, officials at the state and federal levels are sacrificing public and environmental health to benefit the fossil fuel industry. 

Our leaders have let the industry off the hook for its harms, as with the particularly egregious Halliburton loophole. Created as a part of the 2005 Energy Policy Act, the Halliburton Loophole prevents the EPA from regulating fracking chemicals injected underground under the Safe Drinking Water Act. It even allows companies to hide the chemical contents of the fluids they use to drill — including known carcinogens like benzene — by claiming them as “proprietary.” 

But that doesn’t have to be the case. Officials like Governor Shapiro have the ability to close the loophole in our state. While the Shapiro administration has passed rules that have led operators to identify some chemicals online, frackers still keep proprietary chemicals secret. 

Underregulation has contributed to drinking water crises for Pennsylvania communities. Researchers have found elevated levels of radium downstream from fracking sites and contamination so bad that some towns don’t have reliable access to clean water. 

Fracking Waste Spews Toxins Into Our Air

If you ask someone on the street if carbon dioxide and methane gas are bad, they’ll probably respond “Yes.” That’s because the two greenhouse gases are incredibly abundant and extremely potent. It’s part of the reason why fracking is so dangerous. It spews massive amounts of methane and carbon dioxide into the air, weakening our ozone layer and trapping climate-changing heat. 

Moreover, methane gas contributes to the formation of ground-level ozone, a dangerous pollutant to the heart and lungs. Just a few hours of ground-level ozone exposure increases a person’s risk of worsening illness, hospital admission, and even death.

As unconventional fracking creates a multitude of harms for the future, conventional fracking’s past is still haunting Pennsylvanians today. Pennsylvania leads the country in the number of abandoned and orphaned conventional wells. The plethora of wells means a steady leak of methane gas is occurring all over the state, particularly in the west.  

As for another air quality issue, fracking wastewater is often stored in open containers. The danger with that is, TENORM brings radium to the surface, which decays into radon. Radon is the number one cause of lung cancer among nonsmokers, and no level of radon is safe for humans or pets. For Pennsylvanians, this is particularly worrisome. We have one of the most serious radon problems in the United States. About 40% of homes tested in Pennsylvania have radon levels above the EPA’s action level of 4 picocuries per liter.¹If you suspect elevated radon exposure in your home, you can purchase an at-home radon testing kit at your local hardware store, or you can contact a state-certified testing company. Many organizations across Pennsylvania are dedicated to helping residents mitigate and treat radon, so a quick internet search can help you find the resources nearest to you.

Pennsylvania Leaders Must Act Now on Fracking

Thanks to the relentless activism of concerned residents and communities, Pennsylvania’s regulation of the fracking industry has improved. The state’s Act 13 used to exclude private wells from notification of hazardous spills, mandate eminent domain for natural gas storage facilities, and more. But in 2013, the state’s Supreme Court struck down these provisions, among others. 

Act 13’s reformation, along with a growing movement winning municipal zoning laws to curtail fracking, are powerful reminders of how far we’ve come. But there is still so much to do.

The stakes are rising even higher with Trump’s pro-fracking policies. His reckless advocacy for more fossil fuels will bring even more health and environmental harm to the region. And while we suffer, the fossil fuel industry gains. Things must change.

Our state leaders must finally listen to the warnings and demands that we, their constituents, have shared for years and put Pennsylvanians before industry profits. 

Interested in protecting your community from fracking by passing a protective ordinance? We can help! Email [email protected] to learn more about our municipal ordinance project!