Two environmental groups are threatening to sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for neglecting to create and implement new rules on fracking wastewater disposal, reported the Huffington Post.
The Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) announced that they will file a lawsuit against the EPA if it doesn’t issue regulations about how fracking companies should handle and dispose of chemical-laden wastewater.
“Oil and gas waste is extremely dangerous — yet the EPA admitted decades ago that federal rules are inadequate to protect the public,” said Matthew McFeely, an NRDC attorney. “Toxic waste should not be sent to run-of-the-mill landfills, sprayed on our roads and fields, or stored in open air pits.”
According to industry reports, fracking wells across the country injected about 2 billion gallons of wastewater into the ground each day. Recent university research has also linked fracking operations to an increase of unusual seismic activity in the American midwest. Oklahoma has far surpassed California as the country’s most seismically active state.
The federal government needs to act fast if there’s to be any progress made on fracking regulations. The EPA has 60 days to make some movement, or else this environmental coalition will file a suit.
