State Sen. Muth Urges PA To Act On Hazardous Waste Proposals

LOWER PROVIDENCE, PA — A local state senator is renewing her push for state-level legislation that would close loopholes with regard to the disposal of toxic waste from oil and gas drilling in light of a report just put out by The Natural Resources Defense Council highlighting the impact of hazardous, radioactive oil and gas waste.

State Sen. Katie Muth, whose 44th Senatorial District includes Lower Providence Township, is calling on the Pennsylvania General Assembly to pass three bills she cosponsored back in the spring alongside Allegheny County State Rep. Sara Innamorato that would close what Muth's calls the "hazardous waste loophole and prevent devastating health impacts on children, most notably Ewing's sarcoma," according to a news release from Muth's office.

"For decades, industry and government regulators have failed to answer this question: if their extraction practices are not dangerous, then why do they need exemptions in the laws which are supposed to protect us from hazardous waste contamination?," Muth said in a statement. "That's because they've known the answer all along: that the extraction process and the resultant radioactive waste are released into our waterways after being sent through facilities not equipped to handle radioactive waste landfills, poisoning Pennsylvanians across our Commonwealth."

Muth stated that she and fellow legislator Innamorato hope that the recent NRDC report will spur Pennsylvania lawmakers to pass their proposals, which would hold the oil and gas industries accountable for the waste they produce.

Currently, under the Pennsylvania Solid Waste Management Act, which was passed 30 years ago, oil and gas companies are excluded from the requirement to test and treat the waste they produce before putting it into municipal landfills, according to information about the bills found in a May news release announcing the bills' introduction.

"Right now, under the supervision of both the DEP and EPA, billions of gallons of radioactive frack waste is being discharged each year into waterways of our Commonwealth," Muth had stated in the May press release. "This legislation would provide long overdue protections needed to keep our drinking water, land, and air safe from the radioactive harm of the extraction industry."

Muth stated that the July 2021 NRDC report should also motivate federal lawmakers to pass legislation addressing hazardous waste at the federal level.