Wastewater from natural gas drilling in New York State is radioactive.

[G_j]

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=marcellus-shale-natural-gas-drilling-radioactive-wastewater

Natural Gas Drilling Produces Radioactive Wastewater

Wastewater from natural gas drilling in New York State is radioactive, as high as 267 times the limit safe for discharge into the environment and thousands of times the limit safe for people to drink

By Abrahm Lustgarten and ProPublica

As New York gears up for a massive expansion of gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale, state officials have made a potentially troubling discovery about the wastewater created by the process: It's radioactive. And they have yet to say how they'll deal with it.

The information comes from New York State's Department of Environmental Conservation, which analyzed 13 samples of wastewater brought thousands of feet to the surface from drilling and found that they contain levels of radium 226, a derivative of uranium, as high as 267 times the limit safe for discharge into the environment and thousands of times the limit safe for people to drink.

The findings, if backed up with more tests, have several implications: The energy industry would likely face stiffer regulations and expenses, and have more trouble finding treatment plants to accept its waste—if any would at all. Companies would need to license their waste handlers and test their workers for radioactive exposure, and possibly ship waste across the country. And the state would have to sort out how its laws for radioactive waste might apply to drilling and how the waste could impact water supplies and the environment.

..more..

[hrmjustin]

1. K&R!

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. or...........the Republicans could handle the problem by

writing permissive laws and regs and sticking them into obscure unrelated bills, as they have been doing all along.

[sikofit3]

8. You got it

NT

[forestpath]

9. And Obama would sign them.

[kestrel91316]

3. Industry WANTS this contamination. Then they can get even richer off the

bottled water that will be the only safe thing to drink.

[orpupilofnature57]

4. Cuomo has nothing for the environment or jobs, and the market soars .

[byeya]

5. Thank you Andrew Cuomo, the RepubliKKKans and those dinos afraid to stand up for the people

against this terrible insult to the planet and to the people who live on it. I know many poeple gladly sign their subsurface rights away for a quick few dollars even though they must know they are damaging other people's property as well as the jointly owned drinking water and stable environment.

[SoCalDem]

6. Water rates going UP.. Gotta charge extra for new and improved, extra ingredients

Just think of the implications.. Free radiation treatments for the cancers that the water causes.. completed circle..

[stuffmatters]

7. K&R

[proReality]

10. The article is from 2009...

has anything been done about this yet? Or is this just another thing that has been hidden away in someone's desk drawer?

I guess a little research is in order as soon as I get time.

[G_j]

12. I could not find

the date on the article, perhaps because I'm using a phone.

[KoKo]

11. K&R... "They Say" it won't hurt us...it's less than your Dental X-Rays?

Yeah...I hear that all the time.

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. Don't forget transcontinental flights

And bananas.

[KoKo]

14. Oh Yeah...That, Too!

back Attcha! AYYYYYYY....one wonders how long this can be sustained.