A coalition of environmental groups sued the Environmental Protection Agency Wednesday for not regulating the water used in fracking as toxic waste.
“Waste from the oil and gas industry is very often toxic and should be treated that way,” said Amy Mall, a senior analyst with the Natural Resources Defense Council.
The groups argue that companies have too much discretion in how they dispose of water used in oil and natural gas production from shale. The current disposal methods can poison drinking water and cause earthquakes, while furthering the risk of exposure from radioactive material, the groups say.
“EPA must step in and protect our communities and drinking water from the carcinogens, radioactive material and other dangerous substances that go hand-in-hand with oil and gas waste,” Mall said.
The lawsuit calls on the D.C. District Court to set strict deadlines for the EPA to comply with its “long-overdue obligations” to update its waste disposal rules that were supposed to be revised more than a quarter century ago.
The groups filing suit include the Environmental Integrity Project, Natural Resources Defense Council, Earthworks, Responsible Drilling Alliance, San Juan Citizens Alliance, West Virginia Surface Owners’ Rights Organization and the Center for Health, Environment and Justice.
The groups want the EPA to address the problems associated with the disposal of fracking wastewater in underground injection wells, which the groups say accept hundreds of millions of gallons of the wastewater and have been linked to numerous earthquakes in Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma and Texas.
