Dive Brief:

• A community activist organization and lawmakers in Allegany County, NY are pushing to test hydraulic fracking waste deposited at local landfills. 
• The group wants tests to be conducted on Marcellus shale waste brought into the community during the past five years, and are advocating for testing to include re-classification. 
• Currently, the waste is considered Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (NORM) and is accepted at sanitary landfills. The group alleges that the fracking waste is more akin to Technologically Enhanced Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (TENORM) and therefore requires alternate handling and disposal methods.

Dive Insight:

The group, Concerned Citizens of Allegany County, wants testing done by the State Department of Environmental Conservation. According to the CCAC, 117 million pounds of drill waste, 18,000 gallons of production fluid and 13,000 gallons of fluid waste have been brought to the Hyland landfill in addition to fracking waste dumped at the Chemung County landfill. The group alleges leachate collected at the Hyland site is treated as sewage and is recirculated into the Genesee River. 

Lawmakers have introduced legislation aimed at improper waste disposal at landfills, including an act to “amend the environmental conservation law, in relation to the proper screening of waste derived from oil and gas drilling operations for radioactivity prior to disposal at regulated solid waste management facilities.”