Environmental groups call for tighter rules for waste associated with hydraulic fracturing. Photo by Christopher Halloran/Shutterstock

WASHINGTON, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- Environmental groups in the United States said they filed legal notice with federal regulators calling for tighter rules on waste tied to hydraulic fracturing.

A coalition of groups, led in part by the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Environmental Integrity Project, said they filed a legal notice with the Environmental Protection Agency calling for rules that would ban oil and gas companies from dumping waste the groups view as dangerous to public health and the environment.


"The scary truth is that right now this waste, complete with carcinogens and radioactive material, is being dumped irresponsibly or disposed of like everyday household garbage," said Matthew McFeeley, attorney at NRDC. "Toxic waste should not be sent to run-of-the-mill landfills, sprayed on our roads and fields, or stored in open air pits."

The coalition called on the EPA to enact tighter rules on underground injection wells for wastewater disposal, which they said is behind minor earthquakes in shale states like Ohio and Texas. EPA should further ban the spreading of wastewater on open land and require landfills receiving the waste to have special liners to contain any contamination.

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The groups said they'd file a lawsuit in 60 days unless the EPA responds.

A draft study published by the EPA in June acknowledged risks to drinking water from fracking, but said confirmed cases of contaminated drinking water are "small compared to the number of hydraulically fractured wells."

This month, the EPA called for the first-ever mandates regarding methane emissions generated by the oil and gas industry. Over the next decade, the industry would need to cut methane emissions by at least 40 percent from their 2012 levels.

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The industry said the EPA is over-reaching and enacting duplicitous regulations that could throttle momentum in the shale oil and gas sector. State leaders said some of their rules are more stringent than federal proposals.

Adam Kron, an attorney for the Environmental Integrity Project, said the EPA "has repeatedly shirked its duties."