Bid made for shale drilling waste landfill at West Virginia site
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A Canadian company is seeking to site the region's first industrial landfill designed for Marcellus Shale gas drilling waste in what has been called an environmentally sensitive area near Bruceton Mills, W.Va., just six miles south of the Pennsylvania state line.
The landfill is proposed by CCS Midstream of Calgary, Alberta, on 250 acres near the confluence of Big Sandy and Little Sandy creeks in rural Preston County.
The landfill would accept the dewatered drilling cuttings and drill mud and dried "cake" residue left from evaporated fracking fluid, brine and flowback water from Marcellus Shale gas wells in West Virginia, Pennsylvania and other states.
The Preston County Solid Waste Authority tabled the landfill proposal earlier this month and was seeking more information about the composition and chemical properties of the waste. CCS must also get approvals from the state Public Service Commission and the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, but it hasn't applied for those yet.
"Right now, we've got good water and good people living here, and we want to be sure before a landfill goes in that it's not going to be dangerous," said Fred Taylor, waste authority chairman. "We don't want to jeopardize the people living here. We need to find out more about this."
Friends of the Cheat, a West Virginia environmental organization in the Cheat River watershed, has raised concerns about the environmental impact of the landfill in an ecologically fragile area where almost $1 million has been spent to restore creeks polluted by acid mine drainage from coal mines and about $450 million has been spent on water restoration projects throughout the Cheat watershed.
"The Big Sandy is the largest subwatershed of the Cheat River, and we've worked -- along with other groups -- for 15 years to restore it with great success," said Amanda Pitzer, executive director of the Friends of the Cheat. "Those creeks have brook trout and rainbow trout, and the lower portion of Big Sandy is a great whitewater boating venue. That brings in a lot of recreation money."
First Published June 25, 2011 12:00 am
