[…]
The levels and amount of radioactive materials being released in Pennsylvania are alarming and
demand immediate action by PADEP for the sake of the public’s health and the environment,” said
Maya van Rossum, the Delaware Riverkeeper.
“PADEP’s TENORM Report amounts to a cover up of the truth about the exposure of
people to unsafe radioactivity levels from fracking. It’s simply irresponsible for PADEP not to fully
and validly examine the potential pathways of radioactive contamination to the public, workers, our drinking water and the environment; we are being increasingly exposed every day as drilling
continues. Turning a blind eye to the dangers of radioactivity unfairly subjects communities where
there is gas drilling, where waste trucks travel on roadways, where drill cuttings are being
deposited at landfills and gas well burial sites, and where gas is being used, to the dangers of
TENORM and the harm caused by high levels of radiation exposure. PADEP must take action to
complete a thorough and valid TENORM study and stop the uncontrolled and unmonitored
release of radioactive materials being produced by fracking in Pennsylvania,” said Tracy
Carluccio, Deputy Director, Delaware Riverkeeper Network.
Dangerous radioactive liquids, gases, and solids are entering the environment and
potentially contaminating water supplies through practices used in gas well development, storage
of produced fluids, and the transport and disposal of drilling wastes. The radioactive materials are
then available to be taken in by people and can increase the likelihood of cancers in those
exposed.
[…]
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