Sewage plants targeted over lack of Marcellus permits

Two municipal sewage treatment facilities that together discharge 150,000 gallons a day of Marcellus Shale wastewater into the Monongahela River don't have permits that allow such pollution discharges and should, according to a legal action by environmental organizations.

Clean Water Action and Three Rivers Waterkeeper today filed a federal notice of intent to sue sewage treatment operations in McKeesport and Franklin Township, Greene County, in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh, claiming the facilities are in violation of federal Clean Water Act permitting requirements.

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The legal notice of intent to sue marks the first court action challenging the practice of discharging the Marcellus wastewater through municipal treatment facilities that do not have permits to treat such waste, and it is critical of both the state Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for failing to perform their enforcement duties.

"We cannot wait any longer to rely on the state and the EPA to act." said Myron Arnowitt, state director of Clean Water Action. "These sewage plants have been illegally discharging gas drilling wastewater into our rivers since 2008 without a permit as required by the Clean Water Act."

Mr. Arnowitt said the treatment facilities should immediately stop accepting the gas drilling wastewater or apply for permits to legally do so.

The legal notice is a requirement of many environmental laws that include citizen suit provisions. It's the first step toward filing a citizens suit and provides 60 days to negotiate a settlement before the lawsuit is actually filed.

The Franklin Township Sewer Authority in Greene County discharges an average of 50,000 gallons a day of Marcellus drilling wastewater into the South Fork of Ten Mile Creek, a tributary of the Monongahela River. That's equal to 5 percent of the authority's daily discharge, and allowed under a negotiated consent agreement with the state Department of Environmental Protection.

In response to water quality concerns, the DEP limits the Municipal Authority for the City of McKeesport's treatment and discharge of Marcellus Shale drilling wastewater to 1 percent of its total discharge, but that's an average of 102,000 gallons a day going into the Monongahela River.

But environmental groups say those agreements with the state aren't adequate to allow activity that should be approved in a federal permit.

About 500,000 people get their drinking water from the Mon.

First published on March 10, 2011 at 12:25 pm