Thread by @Earthworks

TODAY @RollingStone & @JustinNobel expose two new damning instances in which the #oilandgas industry continues to contaminate communities across the US w/ radioactive waste--adding to a case against #frack waste made previously by @Earthworks.

~THREAD~
rollingstone.com/politics/polit…

@RollingStone @JustinNobel First, while many contaminants in #oilandgas waste have not yet been identified and the risks of others are only partially understood. Radioactive elements are indisputably present in shale formations and are brought to the surface during development, such as in wastewater.

@RollingStone @JustinNobel The #fracking process is water intensive. Wastewater from #oilandgas can total 10X more than oil and gas taken from a well. This is problem for workers who handle wastewater like those who contracted cancer in Louisiana, case @cdc confirmed were caused by radioactivity on the job

@RollingStone @JustinNobel @cdc But it’s also a problem for communities. Loopholes in hazardous waste law allow wastewater to be transported on roads through your town, on the sidewalks and highways as de-icing products, on crops growing nearby, and from facilities that send natural gas to your home.

@RollingStone @JustinNobel @cdc Here’s an interactive map created by @Earthworks and @FracTracker that shows where #oilandgas waste is being processed as nonhazardous waste in Pennsylvania. ft.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapTools/…

@RollingStone @JustinNobel @cdc @FracTracker This is all thanks to a single exemption the industry received from the @EPA in 1980, the streams of waste generated at oil-and-gas wells — all of which could be radioactive and hazardous to humans — are not required to be handled as hazardous waste.

@RollingStone @JustinNobel @cdc @FracTracker @EPA Fortunately, in some #oilandgas producing states, elected officials like @RepInnamorato in Pennsylvania are working to close loopholes and protect the health of workers and communities.

@RollingStone @JustinNobel @cdc @FracTracker @EPA @RepInnamorato Given what we already know about #oilandgas waste, and these new revelations from the @RollingStone investigation...

@RollingStone @JustinNobel @cdc @FracTracker @EPA @RepInnamorato policymakers should:
(1) Halt transportation and disposal of oil and gas waste to nonhazardous waste facilities until it is thoroughly tested and proven “nonhazardous," and
(2) Remove the exemptions from federal and state hazardous waste law.

@RollingStone @JustinNobel @cdc @FracTracker @EPA @RepInnamorato If you want to learn more about radioactive #oilandgas waste, or what @JustinNobel calls “Americas Radioactive Secret,” and learn how to take action read @Earthworks’ national waste report, Still Wasting Away. earthworks.org/summaries/stil…