RP Services spokesman Gil Roden said his company is taking steps to properly dispose of the filter socks.

He said North Dakota’s protocol with filter socks is new to his company and it is taking steps to find proper disposal.

“Now we know how to do it,” Roden said. He said he expects to pay $7,500 per container for disposal.

Schreiber said oil companies know the filter socks are inherently radioactive and are aware of the expense of hauling them to approved sites.

He said the state needs to assess an environmental fee along with well permits and then set up a collection and disposal system that companies participate in.

“This is a multi-pronged problem. This ... is not going to be tolerated. If I have to be the one to stir the stick in the hornet’s nest, fine, so be it,” he said.

The Health Department is awaiting results of a study on radioactive oil field and other waste before deciding whether to raise its allowable limit of radiation and how disposal sites would be constructed.

Because landfills won’t take the socks and levy fines when haulers are caught bringing them in, they sometimes end up in community Dumpsters around towns and roadside ditches.