Neighbor News
Rep. Tweedie: Keep Hydraulic Fracturing Waste Out of Our State
Co-Sponsors Bill to Protect Connecticut's Environment
HARTFORD – Yesterday the Connecticut General Assembly’s House of Representatives passed a bill to permanently prohibit the storage, disposal, handling and use of hydraulic fracturing waste in Connecticut. State Representative Mark Tweedie (R-Glastonbury & Manchester) co-sponsored the legislation, which was sent to the Senate after a 141-6 vote.
Fracking is the process of pumping fluid into or under the surface of the ground to create fractures in rock for natural gas exploration, development, production, or recovery. It does not include drilling or repairing a geothermal water well or any other well drilled or repaired for drinking water purposes. Fracking waste includes wastewater, wastewater solids, brine, sludge, drill cuttings, or any other substance used or generated in the fracking process.
House Bill 6329, with a limited exception for research, permanently bans collecting, storing, handling, transporting, disposing, and using hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) waste in Connecticut.
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“High levels of heavy metal are often found in fracking waste, which makes the idea of distributing it around our state, like in road salts, shocking,” said Rep. Tweedie, member of the Legislature’s Environment and Energy & Technology Committees. “If we didn’t pass this bill, Connecticut would have become the recipient of an overwhelming amount of fracking waste produced by states across country who couldn’t store it themselves. I am happy that this bill was so well-supported, and hope that we can get some more environmentally-friendly legislation through the House this session.”
According to this bill, research surrounding fracking waste must be conducted for the sole purpose of determining whether the waste could be made suitable for sustainable use or reuse. The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) may approve up to three requests to treat up to 330 gallons of fracking waste for research purposes or a single person to treat up to 500 gallons.
