COMMENT
In the east the major problem stems from past disposal of fracking water to waste treatment plants that can't and couldn't remove many of the pollutants, not least of which are radionuclides, though deep well injection has also become a problem more recently as dumping into eastern river systems was stopped. Here, it's deep-sixing water we don't have and will need for long-term sustainability into wells without knowing the range or concentration of many pollutants and hoping these deep storage reservoirs never leak or contribute to seismic activity.
By Joaquin Sapien
January 14 2012
New York's emerging plan to regulate natural gas drilling in the gas-rich Marcellus Shale needs to go further to safeguard drinking water, environmentally sensitive areas and gas industry workers, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has informed state officials.
The EPA's comments, in a series of letters this week to the state's Department of Environmental Conservation, are significant because they suggest the agency will be watching closely as states in the Northeast and Midwest embrace new drilling technologies to tap vast reserves of shale gas.
New York is in the forefront of the shale gas boom and has been working on regulations for more than three years. Judith Enck, the EPA regional administrator who issued the agency comments, noted that New York "will help set the pace for improved safeguards across the country.".....continued.....
