OT Oregon landfill accepted 2 million pounds of radioactive fracking waste from North Dakota

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SlyPokerDog

SlyPokerDog

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A chemical waste landfill near the Columbia Gorge has been accepting hundreds of tons of radioactive fracking waste from North Dakota in violation of Oregon regulations.

Oregon Department of Energy officials issued a “notice of violation” to Chemical Waste Management’s landfill near the small town of Arlington on Thursday for accepting a total of 2 million pounds of Bakken oil field waste that was delivered by rail in 2016, 2017 and 2019.

With landfill officials’ permission, Oilfield Waste Logistics of Culbertson, Mont., dumped the waste, some of which registered radium at 300 times the state’s limits. On average, the waste registered radium at 140 picocuries per gram, according to Jeff Burright, a state nuclear waste remediation specialist. The state’s maximum level for waste stored at Arlington is 5 picocuries, he said.

Energy Department regulators said the landfill won’t be fined for accepting the radioactive waste because they believe landfill operators misunderstood state guidelines and weren’t aware of the violations, said Ken Niles, assistant director for nuclear safety.

He said the agency can only fine companies – ranging from $60 to $500 a day – under certain circumstances. Fines can be levied if a violator had previously been notified of a violation and repeated it or did something similar. The department also fines companies for willful violations or violations that result in “significant adverse impacts” to humans or the environment.

https://www.oregonlive.com/environm...oactive-fracking-waste-from-north-dakota.html
 
WTF! someone GOT THE CASH .
 
I wonder where the radioactivity comes from? I know they use some nasty chemicals for fracking, but radioactivity would serve no purpose. Seems odd, maybe there’s some backdoor deal where radioactive material from some 3rd party is getting slipped in and disposed of on the cheap.
 
Nevermind I looked it up I guess the frack water/chemicals bind to naturally occurring radioactive materials from deep in the earth and carry them back up to the surface when they purge the well.

They forgot to mention that to us in training when I was doing frack flowbacks. Whoopsie daisy! Must’ve slipped their minds.
 
Read the Notice of Violation.
Specifically article IV - Classification of Violations
"While the Department determines that the violation resulted from a lack of due diligence on the part of CWM Arlington, there is no evidence to suggest that the violation was willful in nature. In meetings with the Department following discovery of this incident, staff of CWM Arlington stated that they thought they had understood the waste in question to be exempt from the administrative rules associated with radioactive waste disposal, but this incident demonstrated to them that their interpretation of the exemption requirements was in error. 3. The Department has concluded, based on a preliminary assessment of available data, that the disposal action has not resulted in a significant adverse impact on the health and safety of the public or on the environment.
They continue with
a. Any potential impacts to groundwater resources are currently controlled via the liner and leachate collection system at the landfill.....
b. There is currently no exposure pathway that could present a direct exposure, ingestion, or inhalation risk to human receptors from the subject waste in its present location and configuration.....
c. The past risk to landfill operators as a result of exposure to the subject waste materials at the time the waste was emplaced may be estimated to be within regulatory and safety limits based on two recent analyses performed for TENORM disposal questions in other states.

The Action Required in Article V is extremely vague at best. This Notice was posted on Feb 13th. They have 30 days to respond but there is a Caveat if they admit to the violation but cannot make corrections within 30 days. They are asking for complete quantitative analysis of the issue. It would take years to do. This issue looks like its going to get swept under the rug because the mess is too big a problem to clean up. What are they supposed to do now? load the waste back on trucks and try to ship it back? That won't fix the residual damage.

Bottom Line? This is a Shit Show at best.
 
Happy 161st Birthday indeed. Fracking Waste, a huge homeless issue (#1 in unsheltered homeless), trash everywhere when we used to be one of the cleanest states in the country, #36 in Education, and now the #2 state in Child Sex Trafficing, it's sad to see the direction this state has gone in.
 
TBpup said:
Happy 161st Birthday indeed. Fracking Waste, a huge homeless issue (#1 in unsheltered homeless), trash everywhere when we used to be one of the cleanest states in the country, #36 in Education, and now the #2 state in Child Sex Trafficing, it's sad to see the direction this state has gone in.
Click to expand...

It really is pathetic. Doesn’t have to be this way. Such terrible leadership. Sad my kids are growing up in “this” Oregon. I grew up in the great oregon.
 
calvin natt said:
It really is pathetic. Doesn’t have to be this way. Such terrible leadership. Sad my kids are growing up in “this” Oregon. I grew up in the great oregon.
Click to expand...

And there won't be any changes to that leadership as long as they want to run because people just vote for the D or R next to the name
 
kjironman1 said:
Read the Notice of Violation.
Specifically article IV - Classification of Violations
"While the Department determines that the violation resulted from a lack of due diligence on the part of CWM Arlington, there is no evidence to suggest that the violation was willful in nature. In meetings with the Department following discovery of this incident, staff of CWM Arlington stated that they thought they had understood the waste in question to be exempt from the administrative rules associated with radioactive waste disposal, but this incident demonstrated to them that their interpretation of the exemption requirements was in error. 3. The Department has concluded, based on a preliminary assessment of available data, that the disposal action has not resulted in a significant adverse impact on the health and safety of the public or on the environment.
They continue with
a. Any potential impacts to groundwater resources are currently controlled via the liner and leachate collection system at the landfill.....
b. There is currently no exposure pathway that could present a direct exposure, ingestion, or inhalation risk to human receptors from the subject waste in its present location and configuration.....
c. The past risk to landfill operators as a result of exposure to the subject waste materials at the time the waste was emplaced may be estimated to be within regulatory and safety limits based on two recent analyses performed for TENORM disposal questions in other states.

The Action Required in Article V is extremely vague at best. This Notice was posted on Feb 13th. They have 30 days to respond but there is a Caveat if they admit to the violation but cannot make corrections within 30 days. They are asking for complete quantitative analysis of the issue. It would take years to do. This issue looks like its going to get swept under the rug because the mess is too big a problem to clean up. What are they supposed to do now? load the waste back on trucks and try to ship it back? That won't fix the residual damage.

Bottom Line? This is a Shit Show at best.
Click to expand...

Whoops sorry i didn't know is inexcusable when it comes to nuclear F'ing waste.
 
TBpup said:
Happy 161st Birthday indeed. Fracking Waste, a huge homeless issue (#1 in unsheltered homeless), trash everywhere when we used to be one of the cleanest states in the country, #36 in Education, and now the #2 state in Child Sex Trafficing, it's sad to see the direction this state has gone in.
Click to expand...

49th in Mental Healthcare Facilities.
 
Seems like maybe some Federal Transportation of Hazardous Waste may have been violated also.
 
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