The Allegheny National Forest says “commercial dust suppressants now available render the practice of spreading oil and gas wastewater on roads unnecessary” within the National Forest in Elk, Forest, McKean and Warren counties, according to Christopher Lesser, a spokesperson for the U.S. Forest Service.

The 517,175 acre Allegheny National Forest is the second, large public landowner in the Commonwealth with a policy against allowing the road dumping conventional oil and gas wastewater on its estimated 1,267 miles of Forest Service roads.

The Department of Conservation and Natural Resources has banned the use of oil and gas wastewater for any purpose on its over 6,500 miles of roads within the 2.2 million acres of state forest land and state park land it manages.  Read more here.

DCNR follows the recommendations of the Penn State Center for Dirt and Gravel Road Studies which has called road spreading of drilling wastewater an “environmentally unsound” practice.  Read more here.

Background

The Allegheny National Forest has limited authority to regulate oil and gas activities within the National Forest as a result of a recent court decisions, and relies on the Department of Environmental Protection to enforce state oil and gas drilling laws and regulations within the Forest.

The U.S. Forest Service does not own the oil and gas drilling rights within the Allegheny National Forest, private companies and individuals do.

There are over 4,500 conventional oil and gas wells within the National Forest and over 1,600 oil and gas wells abandoned by conventional well operators.  Read more here.

There are an estimated 1,250 private dirt and gravel roads built to access those drill sites and 677 miles of state and township roads within the National Forest.  Read more here.

The Forest Services does have authority over what happens on the roads it owns and requires conventional oil and gas operators to apply for permission before doing things like road dumping drilling wastewater..

Lessor explained, “For at least the past twelve years, though, we have not had any requests to spread oil and gas wastewater on Forest Service roads.”

“If dust suppression was needed on Forest Service roads, our staff believes that the commercial dust suppressants now available render the practice of spreading oil and gas wastewater on roads unnecessary,” said Lessor.

Road Spreading Is Illegal

The Department of Environmental Protection has determined the road dumping of conventional oil and gas wastewater does not meet the requirements of the state’s Residual Waste Regulations, therefore any road dumping going on on any road-- public or private-- to dispose of wastewater is now illegal in the state.  Read more here.

DEP said as part of a 2018 Environmental Hearing Board proceeding, “the Department cannot authorize [drilling wastewater] to be disposed or beneficially used under the Solid Waste Management Act without a permit.”  Read more here.

DEP has no permit or permit process covering the road dumping of drilling wastewater  and no environmental standards setting limits on the amount spread on roads, setbacks to protect streams and wetlands or any other requirements.

Report Illegal Road Dumping

Citizens traveling through the Allegheny National Forest have witnessed oil and gas wastewater being dumped on roads within the Forest.

Report this illegal activity to DEP immediately by calling 800-541-2050.

You should also contact one of the Allegheny National Forest offices to let them know what’s going on--

-- Warren: (814) 723 - 5150

-- Bradford: (814) 362-4613

-- Marienville: (814) 927 - 6628

Road Dumping Threatens Health, Environment

A growing body of research by Penn State University and others is finding conventional oil and gas drilling wastewater being dumped indiscriminately on Pennsylvania’s dirt and gravel roads every year is a threat to the environment and human health.

Major studies reported in peer-reviewed journal articles have concluded spreading wastewater from conventional oil and gas drilling on dirt and gravel roads can harm aquatic life, poses health risks to humans and damages the roads.  Read more here.

Preliminary results from a new Penn State research study by a team led by Dr. Nathaniel Warner found road dumping of conventional oil and gas drilling wastewater results in increased cancer risks for people living along those roads, especially children.  Read more here.

The study found increased cancer risk from arsenic, lead and nickel in road dust contaminated by wastewater that is above the one in a million risk threshold.

According to these studies, conventional wastewater contains harmful contaminants like lead, radioactive radium, bromine, barium, radioactive strontium, chromium, cadmium, arsenic, copper, benzine, Diesel-Range organics and Gasoline-range organics.  Read more here.

Typical Road Dumping

The typical road dumping of oil and gas wastewater on dirt roads involves a vac truck making three or more passes on each section of road using a combination of an open value on the back of the truck and then a blanket pass with a homemade spreader bar that offers no control on the amount of brine spread.

There are no state standards restricting the amount of wastewater that can be dumped on roads, no setbacks from streams or wetlands to avoid contamination and no requirements for testing the wastewater before it is disposed of in this way.  Read more here.

See Photos Here - Read more here.  See Photos Here - Read more here.

Related Articles:

-- Friends Of Allegheny Wilderness Issue Alert To Members About Possible Road Dumping Of Conventional Oil & Gas Wastewater In Allegheny National Forest [PaEN]

-- DCNR Bans Use Of Oil & Gas Wastewater On Its Over 6,500 Miles Of Dirt, Gravel Roads

-- Penn State Center For Dirt & Gravel Road Studies: Road Dumping Of Oil & Gas Wastewater To Control Dust Is Environmentally Unsound Practice

-- Millions Of Gallons Of Conventional Oil & Gas Wastewater Spread Illegally On Dirt Roads, Companies Fail To Comply With DEP Waste Regulations

[Posted: May 9, 2022]

5/16/2022