A state agency has opted to leave millions of pounds of illegally dumped, radioactive fracking waste right where it is: in an Eastern Oregon landfill.
The Oregon Department of Energy鈥檚 decision on Wednesday comes a little over a year after it issued a notice of violation to Chemical Waste Management, or , which operates Oregon鈥檚 only hazardous waste landfill, outside the Columbia River town of Arlington. An investigation found CWM had 鈥� about 2.5 million pounds 鈥� in the landfill over the course of three years.
Oregon law in the state.
After the violation, CWM had to come up with a plan for what to do with the waste. The company offered to either dig it up and ship it to another state where it鈥檚 legal, or to just leave it in the ground and monitor the effects. The company preferred to leave it in place.
The state Department of Energy , with amendments. The agency said in a that removing the waste 鈥渨ould pose a greater risk to landfill workers than leaving the waste in place.鈥�
鈥淚t is a hazardous waste landfill, of which there are not that many in the nation,鈥� said Jeff Burright, a nuclear waste remediation specialist with the Department of Energy. 鈥淎nd they do have specific design features that are meant to contain waste for long periods of time, despite the fact that radioactive waste is not permitted in the facility.鈥�
CWM will be subject to more stringent water quality monitoring under the agreement.
The Department of Energy has also directed CWM to install a portal to scan shipments of waste for radioactivity before that waste goes in the ground. The agency will require CWM to review current and recent waste streams as well to ensure the company hasn鈥檛 accepted any other radioactive material in the past.
This all started in 2019, when a tipster from North Dakota alerted Oregon regulators that the Arlington landfill might have been accepting radioactive waste from a company called , which provides water disposal and recycling services to the oil and gas industry.
A subsequent investigation found Goodnight Midstream contracted a third party company, , to dispose of solid waste from a project in the 鈥� one of North America鈥檚 largest contiguous oil and natural gas deposits. That company then 鈥渕isrepresented鈥� to CWM what material it was sending to the Arlington landfill to be dumped, the Department of Energy鈥檚 former assistant director for nuclear safety Ken Niles last year.
鈥淚n the manifest that they provided to Chemical Waste Management Arlington, it basically said that this waste does fit within Oregon鈥檚 regulations,鈥� Niles said. 鈥淭he other part of the problem is that Chemical Waste Management did not do their due diligence to ensure what they were being told by OWL was in fact accurate.鈥�
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, which permits the facility, $60,000 and $308,656, respectively.
OPB has reached out to CWM for comment.
This is a developing story. Watch for updates.
Copyright 2021 Oregon Public Broadcasting.