Pittsburgh – Clean Water Action announced today that is has filed a legal notice against Waste Treatment Corporation (WTC) for their illegal discharge of oil and gas drilling wastewater into the Allegheny River in Warren, PA. The Notice of Intent was filed under the citizen suit provisions of the Clean Water Act, charging the company with violations of the Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, and the state Clean Streams Law. Responsible agencies including the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) were notified of the legal action as well
“The state’s own study found that Waste Treatment Corporation is damaging the Allegheny River, yet still no action has been taken to stop this contamination. We could wait no longer for help from the state or EPA. We filed this case so that companies discharging gas drilling wastewater into our rivers know this practice must end,” stated Myron Arnowitt, PA State Director for Clean Water Action.
Pennsylvania DEP conducted a study in 2012 that found high levels of salts, metals, and radioactive compounds just downstream of Waste Treatment Corporation’s discharge pipe in the Allegheny River. Chloride, bromide, lithium, strontium, radium-226, and radium-228 were all found downstream of WTC’s discharge at levels over 100 times the levels upstream of the plant. Not only was there water contamination, but pollutants were building up in the river bed sediment, where DEP found radioactivity and oily deposits. The plant’s discharge of 200,000 gallons of wastewater a day is putting over 125,000 pounds of salt into the Allegheny River every day.
Barb Lucia, a Warren resident with the West Side Alliance stated, “It’s a concern for folks up this way that our river is being polluted with wastewater from shale drilling right here in Warren and continuing downstream. We’ve been worried about this for two years, ever since we discovered it was happening. And the location, so near the BettsPark boat launch area makes it so immediate for us that live here and use the river and the park.”
Clean Water Action found that Waste Treatment Corporation had violated their water discharge permit nearly 400 times since 2010. The company discharged illegal amounts of arsenic, titanium, selenium, as well as having a discharge that had a pH at times too acidic, and at other times too alkaline.
Further, Clean Water Action’s legal filing found that WTC has been using a permit from 2003 that did not authorize them to discharge oil and gas wastewater. Although the company had informed DEP that they were taking drilling wastewater, including from Marcellus Shale gas wells, the state took no action against WTC. DEP has been working on renewing WTC’s discharge permit for five years, and still has not issued a new permit that would properly restrict the contaminants coming from the plant.
“You hear all the time that gas drilling wastewater doesn’t end up in our rivers anymore. However, this is one case in which it clearly is. And the fact that there is radioactivity involved makes it much more likely this wastewater is coming from unconventional gas wells, like the Marcellus Shale. Regardless of the source of the waste, there simply has to be immediate action to stop further pollution of the Allegheny. If Waste Treatment wants to take drilling wastewater, they need to install proper technology to remove these contaminants,” stated Arnowitt.
The legal filing from Clean Water Action can be downloaded here. Photos of the Waste Treatment Plant are also available upon request. Please email us.