make it environmentally safe

I just signed your petition to Governor Patterson. Thank you for putting it together.

I am a microbiologist working in wastewater treatment. I just attended a conference on frack-water and shale brine put on by the New York Water Environment Association. It appears to me there will be a small proportion of frack water (but none the less millions of gallons) that cannot be treated by any means. It will be radioactive. I believe the drilling companies should be responsible for long term storage of this waste -- essentially putting it back in the ground. As I understand it, they are currently under no such obligation. Not all frack-return is radioactive. But some of it probably will be.

Another concern I have is the platform itself. The platforms in Pennsylvania and West Virginia I saw pictures of had open pools of returned frack water and brine. This water is stored on the platform so that it can be reused -- a good practice. But the pools should be covered and walled to protect against flooding. They should be examined and approved by a qualified hydrologist. I don't know if any such practice is in place now.

Finally, biological treatment of frack--return and brine is not appropriate unless the water has gone through significant pre-treatment. Crystallization appears to me to be the best option.
It seems a company could legally send either of these waters to a waste water treatment facility within the Lake Ontario water shed (but not the Susquehanna). This should not be allowed. I have advised the treatment plant operators I work with to be dilligient, to know where trucked-in wastewater is coming from, and not to accept either frack-return or brine.

With these concerns addressed, I would not be opposed to fracking of the Marcellus Shale. I am opposed to releasing any more carbon from the lithosphere, but the renewable energy sources required to prevent it are not in place. Fracking of shale for natural gas is much less evil than mining for coal. So I half-heartedly support the lesser of the two evils. Realistically, I don't think we can prevent shale fracking, but I think we can make it environmentally safe.

Stephen B.