New rules proposed on Marcellus wastewater

The Pennsylvania Independent Regulatory Review Commission approved new rules requiring Marcellus Shale gas operators to adhere to strict wastewater discharge standards.

The new rules require gas operators to heavily treat wastewater to remove salty total dissolved solids – chlorides and sulfides – so that streams do not exceed the safe drinking water standard of 500 milligrams per liter. The regulations now await review by the Environmental Resources and Energy Committees in the state House and Senate.

Though the gas industry says it is increasingly recycling water used in hydraulic fracturing operations and reducing its discharges, it is likely to mount a legal challenge because it says the rules unfairly apply to a new industry, not to existing sources that account for most of the discharges.    - Andrew Maykuth