Dive Brief:
- Wayne Disposal landfill in Belleville, MI, is taking in fracking waste, even as other states refuse to accept the radioactive sludge.
- As state regulations tighten on fracking waste, the site remains one of the only landfills in the American East and Midwest licensed to accept the waste. Wayne Disposal was granted approval by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) in 2006.
- The waste was generated at a drilling operations site in Washington County, PA. It was rejected by Pennsylvania landfills after “heightened radiation” was detected.
Dive Insight:
In May 2014, the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection issued an order for a landfill in the state to stop taking in drilling sludge until the agency could ascertain why the waste was rejected by a site in Pennsylvania. The radioactive waste was delivered to the WV landfill because it was the closest facility with the appropriate permits.
West Virginia DEP eventually deemed the radioactivity levels to be acceptable and did not cite the landfill for initially accepting the waste. But now, the fracking waste has been transported to the landfill in MI.
In March 2014, West Virginia state legislators amended a bill regulating the disposal of drill cuttings at solid waste landfills. The changes will take effect on January 1, 2015.