Take Action: Urge Your State Representative to Close the Hazardous Waste Loophole
May 27, 2015
Riverkeeper Team
We need your help to end the loophole that allows the oil and gas industry to avoid hazardous waste requirements!
The oil and gas industry currently enjoys a special exemption from New York State requirements governing the treatment of hazardous waste. Even though waste from oil and gas operations – including extraction using hydraulic fracturing (fracking) – can contain hazardous contaminants, it is categorically excluded from hazardous waste treatment, storage, transportation, and disposal requirements due to a loophole in state law. More than 500,000 tons and 23,000 barrels of fracking waste have been shipped to New York landfills from Pennsylvania in the past five years, all of it exempt from hazardous waste regulations.
The Hazardous Waste Loophole Bill, sponsored by Assemblyman Englebright and Senator Avella, would close this loophole and ensure that hazardous waste is treated as such, regardless of its source. With the clock winding down to the end of this year’s legislative session, we need the Senate and Assembly to take immediate action to pass this bill.
Join us for a webinar June 8th from 1:00 – 2:00pm ET to hear how you can take action on fracking waste in New York State.
Related campaigns
Spill prevention and preparedness
Working to protect the Hudson and its communities from the threats posed by anchor strikes and spills
Remediating and preventing contamination
Cleaning up decades of pollution and preventing more requires scientific understanding, targeted legal action, and sustained advocacy
Renewable energy transition
Working toward a sustainable future while protecting the Hudson River and its communities