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State begins crackdown on radioactive waste

Landfills ordered to identify what they accepted and develop a compliance plan

James Bruggers
Louisville Courier Journal
  • Hauling company threatened with $100,000 per incident fines and criminal penalties.

Kentucky officials have begun to take enforcement actions in their investigation of radioactive oil and gas drilling wastes they say was brought illegally into Kentucky and dumped at two landfills.

State health officials ordered the company they say hauled the fracking waste into Kentucky to stop or face $100,000 per incident fines and potential criminal charges.

Estill County High School is across the road from the Blue Ridge Landfill owned by Advanced Disposal.

And two landfills in Kentucky were sent violation notices Tuesday from the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet. The violation notices claim the landfill operators in Greenup and Estill counties failed to accurately characterize the waste for what it was, allowing what's considered an illegal release of a hazardous material into the environment. They were also cited for poor record keeping and other violations.

The Energy Cabinet and the Cabinet for Health and Family Services have been investigating a potential pipeline of sorts of radioactive waste from out of state fracking operations into Kentucky.

Health Cabinet assistant counsel Jennifer Wolsing wrote a March 4 letter made public Tuesday that claims BES LLC, doing business as Advanced TENORM Services, imported, collected, transported and/or deposited radioactive oil and gas drilling waste in several Kentucky counties since at least June 2015.

Wolsing said the state would go to court to stop the company if it did not comply.

As of Tuesday, health cabinet officials had not heard from the company, said Beth Fischer, cabinet spokeswoman.

Louisville environmental attorney Tom FitzGerald, director of the Kentucky Resources Council, said Tuesday evening that it is a "good sign to see both agencies coordinating their response and using their regulatory and statutory powers to get a handle on this situation."

Kentucky Division of Waste Management officials on March 2 confirmed that radioactive waste from rock and brine that's brought to the surface during oil and gas drilling was brought into Kentucky against state law. The agency said it was fracking operations in Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.

The Health Cabinet's letter was sent to Cory Hoskins, who was identified as the owner of BES LLC. Records filed with the Kentucky Secretary of State show a Jason Hoskins as owner of Advanced TENORM Services. TENORM is what the industry calls drilling waste that's been technologically enhanced. Both show West Liberty addresses.

A man answering the phone at the address of Cory Hopkins told a reporter he had the wrong number. The Courier-Journal has been unable to reach Jason Hopkins.

State health officials have said they are also trying to determine whether any landfill workers or others were exposed - and whether the material could have been sent to other landfills. They have said they don't believe there are any current health risks from the dumping.

State officials have said a West Virginia company that recycles the drilling further concentrated the radionuclides - and that's the waste that made to the Blue Ridge Landfill last year just outside Irvine, in Estill County. A less radioactive waste was sent to the Green Valley Landfill in Greenup County, they said.

The violation notice sent to Green Valley Landfill's owners, Green Valley Landfill General Partnership, said 369 tons of radioactive drilling waste was dumped there between May 2015 and January 2016. The Blue Ridge Landfill accepted 47 loads, previously described as 25 cubic yards each, from July 2015 through Nov. 2015, according to a violation notice.

Both landfills have been ordered to comply with all provisions of a radiation survey and site investigation guidance provided by the Health Cabinet.

Both landfill companies say they are cooperating with authorities.

Blue Ridge owner Advanced Disposal has it did not know it was accepting radioactive waste.

The customer expressly certified that the waste does not contain radioactive waste as defined by state or federal regulations, said company spokeswoman Mary O’Brien. She said the company "believes that there has been no risk to human health and environment."

Green Valley Landfill Partnership is owned by Republic Services. Company spokeswoman Tracy Skenandore said Republic provided the state with "with documentation regarding the material in question, and that documentation demonstrates that the waste disposed of at Green Valley was certified by the generator to be free of radioactive material."

FitzGerald said the landfills eventually will either have to develop a plan to safely manage the drilling wastes inside the landfill, or remove them. The waste contains radium 226, which has a half-life of 1,600 years, or the time it takes for half its radioactivity to decay. Municipal landfills typically have protective liners guaranteed for 30 or 40 years, he said.

The drilling waste is called TENORM, from the term technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive material. Kentucky considers the material to be low-level nuclear waste, subject to handling under an agreement with the state of Illinois.

Reach reporter James Bruggers at 502-582-4645 and at jbruggers@courier-journal.com.