PANEL: RADIOACTIVE FRACKING WASTE-DUMPING IS SAFE

Original Story: freep.com

Disposal of low-level radioactive fracking waste does not harm Michigan's environment under current rules, a panel appointed by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder determined, and a Van Buren Township landfill could even handle higher radioactivity levels without risk.

Those are among the findings in a report issued Friday by a panel appointed by Snyder. The group of regulators, academics, environmentalists and representatives of the oil and gas, medical and landfill industries was convened after public outcry following Free Press reports last summer on the Wayne Disposal landfill importing radioactive fracking waste from other states.

USEcology, owner of the Wayne Disposal facility between I-94 and Willow Run Airport in Van Buren Township, voluntarily suspended accepting low-activity radioactive waste while the panel convened. A spokesman said Friday the landfilling of the waste, called technologically enhanced, naturally occurring radioactive material or TENORM, would now resume.

"Southeast Michigan is the new ground zero for radioactive frack waste now that the state panel is done with its secret meetings," said LuAnne Kozma, a campaign director with the nonprofit Committee to Ban Fracking in Michigan.

TENORM involves materials whose low, naturally occurring radiation levels are increased through human activities that concentrate them. The controversial oil and gas drilling practice known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is a major generator of it.

A Free Press report last August highlighted Wayne Disposal's plans to accept up to 36 tons of radioactive fracking sludge from a Pennsylvania oil and gas drilling company — after it had been turned away by landfills in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Wayne Disposal on its website advertises its ability as one of few landfills in the U.S. capable of accepting TENORM waste.

"With the panel's affirmation of the current disposal limits, we plan to resume normal business operations which may entail disposal of TENORM from a variety of sources, possibly including oil and gas fracking activities," USEcology spokesman David Crumrine said Friday.

He added that the panel found licensed hazardous waste facilities like Wayne Disposal are "especially well equipped to dispose of TENORM," with their special liners and enhanced monitoring.

"I'm shocked and appalled," said Justin Juriga, a Van Buren Township resident who lives less than a mile from the landfill.

"There are higher forces at work here, political higher forces."

Ken Yale, chief of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality's radiological protection section, said the panel, over the course of multiple meetings, determined the state's radiation limit of 50 picocuries per gram, established in 1996, remains an acceptable level.

There is no federal standard for radiation levels related to TENORM and its disposal. The North Dakota Department of Health -- a state where oil and gas drilling is particularly intense -- commissioned a study on TENORM landfilling risks from the Argonne National Laboratory, a U.S. Department of Energy research laboratory at the University of Chicago. The study, released last month, found drill pad workers, those transporting TENORM and the general public all face exposure risks far below the federal and international standard for maximum radioactive doses. But to minimize the exposure risk to landfill workers, the laboratory recommended a number of steps, including restricting annual TENORM volumes at landfills to 25,000 tons per year and the radioactivity levels of the waste to no more than 50 picocuries per gram.

Yale said the findings of the North Dakota study influenced the Michigan panel's recommendations.

Wayne Disposal had requested the DEQ allow it a tenfold increase in allowed radioactivity, up to 500 picocuries per gram, last year, but withdrew the request last October. Yale said the panel's report found "because of the extra controls that are in place at a Type I landfill, the DEQ could consider evaluating that for possibly having a higher level," but no plans are imminent.

Wayne Disposal takes materials at higher radiological levels after an adjacent USEcology facility, Michigan Disposal, mixes them with inert substances to reduce radioactivity to an acceptably low level for the landfill.

The panel recommends that all landfills accepting TENORM restrict its placement to at least 10 feet below the bottom of a landfill cap, and said DEQ Director Dan Wyant should consider requiring landfills to restrict the total volume of TENORM waste placed annually, to limit worker exposure. Radium-226, commonly found in TENORM, decays to radon 222, a potential carcinogen through inhalation.

"You could get into an issue, and you have to look at worker safety," Yale said. "Their exposure may be above what would be allowed for the public, and that would mean you either put them in the classification of radiation workers, which includes a number of requirements for their protection, or you limit the volume that is being brought in to the landfills."

DEQ officials will review the comments and reconvene the governor's panel if necessary to address any issues they raise, Yale said.

Juriga said the panel's findings, and the landfill's expanding activity disposing of radioactive fracking waste, leave few good choices.

"As a community, do we band together, pool our resources and look at some legal recourse? Is that a thoughtful option? Or do I just move away from the township I grew up in, the community I love and adore, the watershed I've been a part of and tried to protect my whole life? This is what I have to weigh."

Auction of Michigan Oil & Gas Leases Attracts Protesters

Story first appeared in The Detroit Free Press.

An auction of state-owned oil and gas leases attracted a throng of protesters and bidders Tuesday, the latter shelling out more than $3.6 million for the drilling rights to more than 90,000 acres across Lower Michigan.

All of the 18,347 acres on the auction block in Oakland County -- some surrounding popular and exclusive lakes in West Bloomfield and Commerce Township -- were sold, bringing in more than $616,000.

A representative of the company that obtained much of the Oakland County acreage, Jordan Development of Traverse City, said discussion of development plans was premature.

Jordan has operating oil and gas wells in Jackson and Calhoun counties but has no immediate plans for new wells in southeast Michigan. All of the Oakland County acreage is classified as nondevelopment, meaning that no drilling would be permitted on the surface; any extraction would have to be through directional drilling from nearby.

The auction also featured 23,419 acres in Barry County in west Michigan, much of it in and around the Yankee Springs state recreation area. That brought out a crowd of protesters to Constitution Hall in Lansing and resulting in several brief disruptions.

One protester, who stood up as bids were being taken and began to talk over the auctioneer, was taken into custody.

The focus of much of the opposition was on a drilling technique called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which opponents believe can lead to contamination of water resources.

One of those carrying an anti-fracking sign outside the hall was worried about the health impacts.

State regulators counter that Michigan has some of the most stringent safety rules in the country, and decades of relatively problem-free experience with fracked wells.

Tuesday's auction prices were far short of the record $178 million two years ago.

Any proposed drilling in the West Bloomfield area around Cass Lake will meet with stiff opposition. West Bloomfield is slated to take up a proposed resolution Monday that would ban drilling and fracking in the township.

Jordan Development said that the company hoped to avoid conflict if plans proceeded to drill. They have done a lot of development in northern Michigan in areas with residential and resort development, and price themselves on getting along with people.


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Natural Gas Drilling in Michigan Up for Debate

Story first appeared in The Detroit News.

Michigan legislators are considering tightening the state's regulations on a controversial natural gas extraction technique.

A bill introduced this week by House Democrats would require companies producing natural gas in Michigan through hydraulic fracturing to fully disclose the chemical solution used in their processes — a level of openness the industry has long opposed.

Hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," has been used to harvest natural gas in Michigan for decades. To release gas trapped deep in the earth, companies pump a water/chemical mix, or "fracking fluid," into the shale formations below the surface. That causes the rock structures to fracture, releasing the natural gas there to be pumped back up to the surface.

In recent years, producers have utilized new technologies to drill vertically and then several thousand meters horizontally, opening up far more area for harvesting than was before possible.

But concerns over the impacts of fracking have made the process the target of criticism from environmental groups. In other states, fracking fluid is believed to have contaminated groundwater supplies.  The involvement of Fracking Experts is extremely important to make sure that proper procedures are followed to avoid additional environmental contamination.

In the past, companies in Michigan have only been required to disclose 99.5 percent of their fracking formula. The rest has been considered proprietary information that gas companies could keep to themselves.

This week, Democrats in Michigan are introducing a bill that would require companies seeking permits for hydraulic fracturing to disclose their complete recipe for fracking fluid. This would require a full disclosure before a permit can be given. Michigan residents just want to know what's being put into the ground and, probably, the water.

Deep below the top third of Michigan's Lower Peninsula lies the Collingwood shale formation — a natural gas deposit that has drawn great interest in recent years from exploration companies. Calgary, Alberta-based Encana Corp. has dug three test wells over the last two years to judge the viability of hydraulic fracturing there.

A spokesman for Encana has said the company already voluntarily participates in a database that provides the communities where it drills with the baseline 99.5 percent of information. And in cases where questions arise over possible groundwater contamination from fracking, the company has provided local officials with the full content of its fluid. Encana feels that their approach has been a good balance between providing the proprietary cover companies want and at the same time, providing access that the public feels is warranted.

Without having seen the reporting requirements of the new bill, Hock declined to discuss what impact it might have on Encana's future plans for exploration in Michigan.

A policy director for the Michigan Environmental Council, said there has been a shift in the political climate on full disclosure for hydraulic fracturing in recent years. Natural Gas Experts have made it clear that they feel that the full chemical solution should be provided to avoid environmental contamination.


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