ITHACA –Toxics Targeting, Inc., an environmental database firm in Ithaca released government information Thursday documenting that the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation authorized millions of gallons of natural gas drilling wastewater to be spread on thousands of miles of roads in New York, including in Chenango County, for dust control, winter de-icing or roadbed stabilization.

The dumping involves gas drilling brine or produced water, that, according to the company’s president Walter Hang, is documented to be contaminated with high levels of chloride and other Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), including toxic metals, as well as petroleum hydrocarbons and radionuclides.

"This gas drilling wastewater dumping should have been banned decades ago when spraying waste oil on dusty roads was outlawed along with burying garbage in open pits," he said. "It is inconceivable that DEC still authorizes spreading potentially toxic and radioactive gas drilling wastewater on roadways in watersheds all over the Central, Southwestern and Leatherstockings regions of New York.”

Hang’s release included a county-by-county map showing areas where spreading applications were approved. Areas in Pitcher, German, McDonough, Preston, Otselic, Smyrna and Columbus were highlighted. Toxics Targeting made available a free Internet map that allows concerned citizens to type in their addresses or town names to see if gas drilling wastewater has been approved to be spread near their homes or drinking water sources. See Overview Map at: http://toxicstargeting.com

In response to the release, DEC spokesman Michael Bopp said he was unaware what sources Hang used for assessing the toxicity level of the brine that haulers and municipalities have been authorized to use.

“His characterization of the materials in it is not something that we would agree with,” he said. “Has he tested it? How does he know? It is a non-issue as far as we are concerned.”

Bopp said the disposal of production water from gas and oil wells and from former salts mines on roadways, for the purposes of dust-control and de-icing is a long standing practice in New York State that is evaluated by the DEC’s Division of Solid Waste Management like other industrial activities that generate waste.

“It’s been studied as a class,” he said, based on the source of production fluid, analysis of its chemical composition, spreading methodology and equipment, and the designated road or area for spreading.

Under the DEC’s Beneficial Use Determination guidelines, designated spreading locations must avoid environmental impacts to areas like forest areas and wetlands and surface water bodies. In addition, use of this water for road spreading reduces disposal through wastewater treatment facilities and, in some cases, lowers costs for municipal road maintenance, Bopp said.

Chenango County Planning Department Planner Rena Doing said she knew of some town highway departments that had tried the high salt concentrated material “once or twice a couple years ago,” but said it would have come from the vertical, sandstone wells that have been drilled in county. She concurred with Bopp that Hang’s claims regarding toxicity didn’t apply here.