State says radiation levels good

SANDUSKY — No worries. That's the response state officials responsible for regulating radioactive waste at Ohio landfills provided after the Register sent a series of questions about concerns they are dangerously mismanaging the job. A flowback containment pond holding TENORM waste from a Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling operation on State Game Lands 59 in Potter County, PA. © Joshua Boaz Pribanic for Public Herald The questions and answers follow a groundbreaking investigative series by Public Herald, a nonprofit investigative journalism team co-founded by a former Sandusky man and Sandusky High School graduate, Josh Boaz Pribanic. Petroleum industry waste known as TENORM (Technologically Enhanced Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material) is being generated in enormous amounts at shale drilling sites, the series found. The three-part series, "Danger ahead," was published in the Register and other Ohio newspapers starting July 30. It determined that the Ohio EPA, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and the state health department under Gov. Mike DeWine, don't have the ability to adequately test radiation levels of waste being brought to Ohio. The state is allowing radioactive waste from oil and gas well drilling to be shipped to Ohio for storage at landfills without knowing what the radiation levels of that waste is, whether it is higher than what is allowed, or whether it is safe, or not, according to Public Herald. Public Herald reported the concerns of experts, including Dr. Julie Weatherington-Rice, an earth scientist and adjunct professor for Ohio State University with a Ph.D. in soil science. The minimal testing requirements in Ohio are only getting "weaker and weaker," according to Weatherington-Rice, which means there is no way to verify what is coming in and out of these facilities. "(Tests) have been watered down and watered down until we have almost no rules at all," she told Public Herald. The verifiable testing on fracking waste samples of the waste from other storage sites shows evidence that levels are higher than allowable, and at dangerous levels, according to the Public Herald series. The state did not provide records to the Public Herald team, which worked on the series for 15 months, that refutes the concerns about the unknown radiation levels or the lasting and devastating potential impact radioactive waste could have on the environment and ecosystems in the state, including Lake Erie, in the future. ODNR says it tracks radiation A spokeswoman for ODNR denied the agency is failing to adequately track the disposal of radioactive materials in the state. "Radioactive levels are not unknown to regulators in Ohio," said Sarah Wickham, the department's chief of communications. The Register's inquiry was sent to ODNR director Mary Mertz. Wickham, the agency spokeswoman, stated that ODNR does in fact track radioactivity levels for TENORM. She also said the agency is "absolutely not" worried Ohio will become a dumping ground for radioactive waste. The Register sent emails to various state officials, asking them to respond to six questions generated as a result of the series. Wickham, on behalf of the ODNR, provided the most detailed response. Additional responses also came from the Ohio EPA and from state Rep. Dick Stein, R-Norwalk. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine did not respond to questions, but his spokesman, Dan Tierney, said two agencies in the governor's cabinet, the department of natural resources and the state's EPA, responded to the Register. "I do not have additional comment beyond their comments," Tierney said. The Register did not get a response from Attorney General Dave Yost, state Sen. Theresa Gavarone, R-Bowling Green, or state Rep. D.J. Swearingen, R-Huron. Yost and the lawmakers offered no explanation for why they did not respond by the Register's deadline. ODNR response The Register asked about reports that the state isn't adequately tracking radioactive waste in Ohio and Public Herald's report that radioactive levels apparently are well above what's allowable. "The Division of Oil and Gas Resources Management (the division) has a radiological safety section. The personnel in this section work with the operators of each waste facility to ensure appropriate radiation protection plans are designed, approved and implemented," Wickham responded. "These plans include the requirement that a waste facility maintains waste management records, which include manifests of all incoming waste substances, final disposition of the waste substances and characterization results of testing performed to determine the concentration of radium-226 and radium-228 on all technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive materials (TENORM). The division has full access to those records. Radioactive levels are not unknown to regulators in Ohio," she wrote. The Register asked if the Ohio Department of Natural Resources is worried about Ohio becoming a "dumping ground" for radioactive waste. "Absolutely not," Wickham wrote. "The division operates in accordance with Ohio law regarding the storage, processing, treatment and disposal of oil and gas waste. Ohio's oil and gas waste facilities are authorized to treat, store, or recycle byproducts from the oil and gas industry pursuant to a Chief's Order." "Oil and gas waste facilities in Ohio are not permitted to discharge wastewater into surface or groundwater; fluids must be recycled for re-use by the oil and gas industry or disposed of in a permitted Class II Disposal Well, lawfully disposed of at a licensed Ohio landfill, or transported out of state for lawful disposal." Read Wickham's full response to the six questions, elsewhere in this issue. Ohio EPA response The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency's top spokeswoman, Heidi Griesmer, noted that all oil and gas activity in Ohio is regulated by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. Griesmer But she acknowledged her agency does regulate landfills and water quality. "Ohio's solid waste law (ORC Section 3734.02(P)) authorizes solid waste landfills to accept TENORM that contains or is contaminated with radium-226, radium-228 or any combination of radium-226 and radium-228 at concentrations less than five picocuries per gram above natural background. No further application or authorization is needed," Griesmer wrote in an email to the Register. "Ohio's solid waste regulations require landfills to submit to Ohio EPA an annual report summarizing waste disposal, which may include TENORM. Landfill annual reports may be found at the following website: https://www.epa.state.gov/dir/publicrecords," she said. "For drinking water, every new public water system has to test for radiologicals, according to Ohio's rule. Reduced monitoring is granted to water systems that are below the detection limit. Every system has a schedule to continue testing based on past results. Monitoring requirements include gross alpha particle activity, radium-226, radium-228 and uranium," she wrote. Rep. Stein responses The Register sent questions to three local state lawmakers, Gavarone, Swearingen and Stein. While Gavarone or Swearingen didn't respond, Stein wrote back and promised to take a look. Stein "This issue has never been brought to my or my office's attention till now. It appears that none of the areas involved are in our district. That said, Ohioans should expect its officials to be good stewards of our land and water resources, and we need to protect all Ohio's citizens from improper low-level radioactive waste disposal," Stein wrote in an email to the Register. "I will reach out to our policy staff and speak with the chairman of energy and natural resources in the house for a better understanding of this issue and your questions. Many of our members are in the footprint of these sites, and, to my knowledge, there hasn't been any discussion on this issue, however, when I return in September, I will do more research on low-level fracking waste disposal policies in Ohio," Stein wrote. Read the Public Herald series here. Read more about radioactive waste generated by oil and gas production here