Senate Dems Urge DEC To Ban Fracking Waste Disposal

Democratic lawmakers in the state Senate on Thursday sent a letter urging the Department of Environmental Conservation to end the disposal of tracking waste in New York.

The letter, sent by Sens. Brad Holyman and Liz Krueger and signed by 11 of their conference members, urged the DEC to take up the ban through regulations that would adopt the broad strokes of a bill sponsored by Hoylman.

The regulations, supporters say, are aimed at prohibiting the disposal of gas and oil drilling waste and the close what they say is a loophole in disposal requirements. The concern has been the waste ends up in wastewater treatment facilities, landfills and as part of a de-icing agent on roadways.

“We are concerned that, despite New York State’s ban on high-volume hydraulic fracturing, and the widespread evidence of the danger posed to public health by fracking, gas and oil drilling waste from fracking sites is ending up in our communities,” the lawmakers wrote in the letter to DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos.

Read more: http://www.nystateofpolitics.com/2017/07/senate-dems-urge-dec-to-ban-fracking-waste-disposal/