Published in Last Word
A leaked Environmental Protection Agency draft memo suggests that the agency will assert stricter regulatory control over wastewater from wells that use hydraulic fracturing to extract shale gas.
National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permitting and Pretreatment for Shale Gas Extraction Wastewaters: Frequently Asked Questions lists "almost two dozen" contaminants that are in high enough concentrations in fracking wastewater as to be of concern, including benzene, radium and arsenic. The memo also states that the listed contaminants are not the only ones that will have to be removed from the wastewater before reaching a water source.
To read the draft, click here.
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