# Management of Oil and Gas Waste in Pennsylvania Air and Waste Management Association Stephen Socash Bureau of Waste Management PADEP

### • Pennsylvania Solid Waste Management Act comprehensively regulates solid wastes
– 35 P.S. §§ 6018.101 – 6018.1003

– Hazardous wastes

– Residual wastes

– Municipal wastes


### • SWMA was adopted in 1980
• SWMA requires permits for processing, treating or disposing of wastes

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### Overview of Solid Waste Management Act (SWMA)• Drill cuttings (rock cuttings and related mineral residues) from drilling oil and gas wells are not wastes under the SWMA if they are disposed at the well site and pursuant to applicable requirements of the oil and gas program
• Oil and gas regulations (25 Pa. Code Chapter 78) contain various requirements relating to pits, disposal of drill cuttings, disposal of liquids and disposal of residual waste at the well site
• 25 Pa. Code § 287.2(g)
– exclusions from residual waste regulations consistent with oil and gas act for pits, impoundments, methods or facilities on the well site
• Residual waste program applies to materials from development and production of oil and gas wells off the well sites

3 Interplay between Oil and Gas and Residual Waste Programs• Materials used or reused as ingredients in an industrial process to make a product without reclamation (sizing, shaping and sorting is permissible)
• Materials employed as effective substitutes for commercial products without reclamation (sizing, shaping and sorting is permissible)
• Materials returned to the original process from which they are generated as a substitute for feedstock materials without reclamation
• A material is “reclaimed” if it is processed to recover a useable product, or if it is regenerated

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# Exclusions from Definition of Waste• Co
- products only encompass materials that are applied to the land, used to produce products that are applied to the land or are burned for energy recovery (minimum BTU value of 5,000/lb)

– Generated by manufacturing or production process or spent material

– Physically and chemically equivalent to intentionally manufactured product or produced raw material

– Cannot be processed prior to use other than sizing, shaping, sorting or other than processing required for material it is substituting for

– Cannot be accumulated speculatively

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# Definitions
– Coproduct• Coproduct Requirements

– The use of the material can present no greater threat of harm to human health and the environment than the use of the product or produced raw material that is being replaced

– The material must be used by the generator of the material or transferred in good faith as a commodity in trade
• Burden is on those producing, selling, transferring, processing or using a material that it meets definition
• Industry
- wide coproduct determinations (25 Pa. Code § 287.9) do require approval from DEP

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# Definitions
- Coproduct

## (25 Pa. Code §§ 287.51 – 287.56)

• Biennial Report

• Source Reduction Strategy

• Chemical Analysis

• Record Keeping

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# Duties of Residual Waste Generators• All generators of residual wastes must maintain records (five year retention requirement) documenting:
• Types and amounts of wastes generated

• Dates of generation

• Identity of transporters of wastes to offsite locations
• Identity of receiving facilities
• Large quantity residual waste generators are subject to additional requirements
• Transportation requirements

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## Residual Waste Generator Requirements• Entities that generate more than an average of 2,200 pounds of residual waste per month during the previous year are subject to
- • Biennial reporting requirements (Forms 330 and 330
- GM)
• Source reduction strategy requirements (Form 25R)
• Entities that generate more than 2,200 pounds of residual waste in any single month during the previous year must characterize the physical properties and chemical composition of their waste streams (Form 26R)
• Includes wastewater

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### Large Quantity Residual Waste Generator Requirements• Requirements relating to biennial reports, source reduction strategies and chemical analysis of waste do not apply to:

– Residual waste generated as a result of collecting the waste from the repair or replacement of parts, machinery, vehicles and appliances

– Waste generated from a spill, release, fire, accident or other unplanned event

– Oil used as lubricant in internal combustion engines or for transmissions, gears or axles

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### Large Quantity Generator Requirements
- Exclusions

### • Extensive information about chemical and physical characteristics of each waste stream must be assembled
• Form 26R must be submitted to DEP annually for each waste stream (default deadline
- March 1)

– Can recertify for up to five years if no changes to waste stream or process generating waste stream

– Must reanalyze waste streams at least every five years 

### • Example
- Form 26R used to characterize oil and gas waste streams

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### Chemical Analysis of Residual Waste
– Form 26R

### • Analysis that characterizes physical and chemical composition of waste

• Hazardous waste determination
• Update when waste changes, manufacturing process changes or every five years

• Not required for generators of a total of < 2,200 lbs of residual waste in any single month
• For small waste streams (<2200 lbs/month), hazardous waste determination is sufficient

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### Chemical Analysis of Residual Waste
– Form 26R

### • Facility waste acceptance plan (WAP)
- types and chemical concentration limits
• Facility makes determination that waste from a generator falls within WAP and requests approval from DEP via Form U to receive waste
• Form U deemed approved after 15 days unless notified by DEP to the contrary
• Includes TENORM Information
• Ideal for wastes with consistent physical and chemical characteristics

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### Request to Process of Residual Waste
– Form U

## • Permits required for processing or disposing of residual waste

• Permits available in three forms

– Permits
- by
- Rule

– General Permits (recycling activities)

– Individual Permits

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# Permit Requirements

### • Comprehensive study examining radioactivity in by products associated with oil and gas development

• Ensure public health and then environment continue to be protected

• Collect and analyze drill cutting, flowback fluids, storage tanks, trucks, drill rigs and wastewater treatment
• Final Report due Fall of 2014

• Information at www.dep.state.pa.us

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## Oil and Gas Development Radiation Study

# STAY TUNED!

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## What does the future hold?

## Steve Socash Department of Environmental Protection Bureau of Waste Management 717 - 787 - 7381 ssocash@state.pa.us