End loophole on hazardous waste

To the Editor:
We need your help to end the loophole that allows the oil and gas industry to avoid hazardous waste requirements!

The oil and gas industry currently enjoys a special exemption from New York State requirements governing the treatment of hazardous waste. Even though waste from oil and gas operations — including extraction using hydraulic fracturing (fracking) — can contain hazardous contaminants, it is categorically excluded from hazardous waste treatment, storage, transportation, and disposal requirements due to a loophole in state law. More than 500,000 tons and 23,000 barrels of fracking waste have been shipped to New York landfills from Pennsylvania in the past five years, all of it exempt from hazardous waste regulations.

The Hazardous Waste Loophole Bill, sponsored by Assemblyman Englebright and Senator Avella, would close this loophole and ensure that hazardous waste is treated as such, regardless of its source. With the clock winding down to the end of this year’s legislative session, we need the Senate and Assembly to take immediate action to pass this bill.

Contact your state legislators today and urge them to pass the Hazardous Waste Loophole Bill!

Join us for a webinar on June 8 from 1 to 2 p.m. to hear how you can take action on fracking waste in New York State.

Hudson Riverkeeper
www.riverkeeper.org