Landfill Taking Drilling Waste - Wheeling Intelligencer

WHEELING - With permission from the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, Chesapeake Energy is dumping waste at the Short Creek Landfill.

"The advantage of taking this waste to the landfills is there are protective liners in landfills and the leachate is collected and tested," said DEP spokeswoman Kathy Cosco. "This is really drilling waste, which includes drill cuttings and the drilling mud that is used in the process."

During a recent federal court hearing in a case in which Wetzel County property owners Larry and Jana Rine are suing Chesapeake for allegedly dumping benzene and radioactive material into a large hole on the Rines' property, Chesapeake attorney Timothy Miller noted Chesapeake has been taking drilling waste to the Short Creek Landfill on North Fork Road.

None of this material seems to be radioactive, however. Testifying on behalf of Chesapeake, environmental consultant Ernest Franz said a set of alarms on the sides of the landfill's entrance would sound if the truck contained radioactive material.

He said no truckloads of Chesapeake waste have been turned away from the landfill for this reason.

"Chesapeake utilizes a closed loop drilling process throughout the Marcellus (Shale). This process separates drill cuttings into steel bins that are taken off site for disposal in approved regional landfills," Chesapeake's Director of Corporate Development Stacey Brodak said when asked for further explanation of the comments from Miller and Franz.

Kosco said the DEP regulates West Virginia's landfills but does not have a specific regulation for the disposal of drilling waste. She said the drill cuttings are classified as "special waste," like gasoline contaminated waste resulting from highway accidents.

"Like when a tractor-trailer overturns and diesel fuel is spilled, the absorbent material used to clean up that spill is considered a special waste and can be taken to landfills that are permitted to accept it," she said.

Cosco said the DEP sent letters to landfills in 2009 to let them know they would need to modify their permits to accept the drilling waste. Testing for certain metals and petroleum hydrocarbons is required under the new regulations.

Dumping the waste in landfills may be a viable alternative for natural gas drillers because West Virginia's public water systems are no longer able to accept drilling waste. According to the DEP, Wheeling-based Liquid Assets Disposal allegedly dumped briny wastewater from gas drilling sites at the Center Wheeling pollution plant from January 2009 to February 2010. During this time, LAD allegedly exceeded the 9,000-pound daily chloride limitation for Wheeling's plant on about 50 occasions. This resulted in the DEP issuing a $414,000 fine against the city.

Wheeling Public Works Director Russell Jebbia has said the city will follow DEP guidelines in not accepting anymore drilling waste.

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Teck Metals compensates Trail, BC, for mercury spill into Columbia River - The Canadian Press

Teck Metals compensates Trail, B.C., for mercury spill into Columbia River(The Canadian Press) – 2 days ago

VANCOUVER — Teck Metals says it accepts full responsibility for a spill of mercury into the Columbia River in Trail, B.C.

The discharge occurred Oct. 7, 2010, just weeks after leachate from Teck's lead and zinc smelting operation overflowed into Stoney Creek, near the company's huge operation in southeastern B.C.

A lengthy investigation under the Fisheries Act and the Environmental Management Act ended with a series of recommendations aimed at ensuring a similar thing doesn't happen again.

The company has now agreed to pay $325,000 in compensation for the two spills.

Several community and environmental groups in the Trail area will share the cash.

Teck says it has also taken steps to avoid future incidents, including proceeding with the second phase of an $8.3-million effluent spill reduction program.

Copyright © 2011 The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Portable wastewater treatment plant to treat landfill leachate in Mexico - Water World

TORONTO, ON, Canada, Apr. 26, 2011 -- Under an MOU with Hasar's Grupo Ecologico, Blue Gold Canada plans to install a wastewater treatment plant at a landfill in Guadalajara, Mexico.

The Blue Gold/Dove Biotech wastewater treatment plant will have the capacity to treat 50,000 liters of water per hour and will use a proprietary organic/natural solution called CWP-121 to remove the contamination from the leachate pools. The treated effluent will then be used for agricultural applications.

The project is scheduled to be installed later this year.

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Attorney General Madigan Files Complaint for Water Pollution, Discharge ... - eNews Park Forest

Thursday, 21 April 2011 09:43 Press Release Latest Local News ( 0 Votes ) Chicago--(ENEWSPF)--April 21, 2011.  Attorney General Lisa Madigan has filed a water pollution complaint against the owner of a dairy farm under construction in Jo Daviess County after a pink and purple-colored liquid flowed into the South Fork of the Apple River. It is alleged the liquid was leachate from silage stored at the facility.

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Traditions South Dairy, 12504 E. Canyon Road near Stockton, is owned by A.J. Bos of Bakersfield, Calif. Bos’ Tradition Investments, LLC is named in the complaint filed yesterday with the Illinois Pollution Control Board (IPBC).

According to Madigan’s complaint, on Oct. 1, 2010, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) investigated a citizen complaint of discoloration in the west branch of the South Fork. Inspectors traced the color back to a location at the dairy where a field tile discharged into the tributary. Results of samples collected by the IEPA revealed, among other things, an elevated level of suspended solids attributable to the discharge of silage leachate. In addition, the unnatural color also violates state water regulations. Traditions employees told the IEPA the silage was collected at the dairy in anticipation of livestock that had yet arrived and leachate from the silage was stored in a holding pit at the dairy. The contract land applicator told inspectors he applied approximately 320,000 gallons of the silage leachate on five acres the previous day as well as Oct. 1, 2010.

Madigan’s complaint requests the IPCB to schedule a hearing in Jo Daviess County where Traditions Investments will have an opportunity to answer the five counts in the complaint that includes water pollution and operating without a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit. Each count seeks a civil penalty of $50,000 per violation and an additional $10,000 for each day the violation continued.

Senior Assistant Attorney General Jane McBride is handling the case for Madigan’s Environmental Bureau in Springfield.

Source: illinoisattorneygeneral.gov

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