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Overview

Over the past decade, New York State has seen a steep decline in the quantity of waste products from the fracking industry sent to its landfills for disposal. Following the state’s banning of high volume hydraulic fracturing in 2014, quantities dropped off considerably. And then in 2020, New York State closed the “Fracking Loophole,” passing legislation that ordered the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to stop exempting oil and gas activities from scrutiny applied to other hazardous material. Because oil and gas waste may include hazardous levels of radiation, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and heavy metals, this legislation is highly significant.

We have covered this topic more broadly in the past, tracking the fate of solid and liquid waste from the fracking fields of Pennsylvania to locations as far flung as Texas and Utah (however most of this waste now is either disposed of in Pennsylvania, Ohio, or West Virginia). However, each year, the situation changes. FracTracker likes to present the data on maps, rather than in lengthy charts and tables. This will give you an instant view of the extent and location of the sources of these drilling waste products.

Pennsylvania Unconventional Drilling Waste Disposal in New York State, 2011 – 2020

Use this interactive map to see cumulatively, or year by year, the locations in Pennsylvania that sent their drilling waste products north, over the border to New York State. The basemap is set to view roads, but as you zoom in, you have the option to toggle on a layer that shows aerial imagery, as well. This is the last item in the map’s legend. In order to turn layers on and off in the map, use the Layers dropdown menu. This tool is only available in Full Screen view. All data sources are listed in the “Details” section of the map, as well as at the end of this article.

View Full Size Map | Updated 4/1/2021 | Data Tutorial

By and large, most drilling waste in New York State has recently been accepted by the Chemung County Landfill. This past year, the Chemung facility accepted a little over 9000 tons of drilling waste, up slightly from 2019. But this is a dramatic decrease from 2014, just prior to the state-wide ban, when the Chemung County Landfill, alone, received over 80,000 tons of solid drilling waste from Pennsylvania.

About the data

All data can be downloaded as .csv files from Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s (PA DEP) Oil and Gas Reporting website.

Click on the year labels below to view their respective data.

Trends over time

Here are the current trends for solid and liquid wastes coming to New York State from Pennsylvania’s unconventional drilling operations.

Solid drilling waste sent from PA to NYS, 2011-2021

Figure 1. Trends for solid wastes coming to New York State from Pennsylvania’s unconventional drilling operations. Data source: Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s Oil and Gas Reporting website

Liquid drilling waste sent from PA to NYS, 2011-2021

Figure 2. Trends for liquid wastes coming to New York State from Pennsylvania’s unconventional drilling operations. Data source: Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s Oil and Gas Reporting website

Conventional waste (vertical wells)

In addition to unconventional waste disposal from drilling from sources in Pennsylvania, conventional drilling wastes originating in Pennsylvania were also disposed of in New York State in 2011-2019.

These included produced fluid that is most commonly spread on roads to control dust and ice. Produced fluid is the liquid that comes out of the well, along with the gas, after a well is drilled. It is typically highly salty.

Click on the year labels below to view their respective data.

Why the change?

The decline in conventional drilling waste shipped to New York State in 2020 is a result of several factors.

There has been a significant impact on greater scrutiny that drilling waste products now receives in New York State, following the closure of the drilling waste loophole in 2020. In contrast to New York State, Pennsylvania—where regulations are not as stringent—spread nearly 11,000 barrels of conventional drilling waste water on its roads in 2020. In 2019, PA road-spread 17,000 barrels. In 2018, the quantity in PA was close to 19,000 barrels. In 2015, that number was more than 87,000 barrels.

In addition, rather than disposing of waste by road-spreading, Pennsylvania has historically sent produced water to sewage treatment plants, or other treatment facilities. Nonetheless, while the quantity of liquid waste sent to these facilities was nearly 3.5 million barrels in 2015, the volume declined to only 220,000 barrels by 2020. In general, this trend parallels the movement towards unconventional directional/ horizontal drilling, and away from conventional methods employed prior to the development of high-volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing.

The Take Away

In New York State, the impacts of drilling activity in Pennsylvania have changed considerably over the past decade. New Yorkers saw the environmental and public health impacts of oil and gas drilling first-hand in their neighbors just to the south. These observations helped shape policy about the future of unconventional drilling in New York, as well as the degree to which New York would provide disposal ground for Pennsylvania’s fossil fuel extraction.

As a nation, as we move towards more renewable sources of energy, it is possible that patterns aggressive fossil fuel extraction and the challenges inherent in their disposal, will ebb. However, oil and gas drilling has long been an important part of the Keystone State’s economy. Nevertheless, as available reserves are depleted, the economic benefits of renewable energy become more pronounced, and a more vigorous engagement of climate science pervades the public sentiment, perhaps changes will naturally move in the direction of an economy dominated by clean energy.

References & Where to Learn More

Datasets used in this analysis include:

• PA unconventional drilling waste sources shipped to NYS in 2011 https://arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=073a75e4cb1e4d59b6a5c4a2032b61b8
• PA unconventional drilling waste sources shipped to NYS in 2012 https://arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=936fae3569e14dedae59ea6441468395
• PA unconventional drilling waste sources shipped to NYS in 2013 https://arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=0814b60c1dcc4fdcb6ac9627f288f7b1
• PA unconventional drilling waste sources shipped to NYS in 2014 https://arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=ce71cd65d262425594e2bfa3ed32b6e6
• PA unconventional drilling waste sources shipped to NYS in 2015 https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=a14927cd534c4f23bbbeb2856f998507
• PA unconventional drilling waste sources shipped to NYS in 2016 https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=f61d0e9004044ea2bf25ef4836f5479f
• PA unconventional drilling waste sources shipped to NYS in 2017 https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=108ea030e64f44ed867f2951fcbb8621
• PA unconventional drilling waste sources shipped to NYS in 2018 https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=88cf498b847943e9a9643d072ebb1b35
• PA unconventional drilling waste sources shipped to NYS in 2019 https://arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=c43b5ea71f3346db8e6239b7c0f18cfe
• PA unconventional drilling waste sources shipped to NYS in 2020 https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=e7b3ccb3b8094899aa7d469f5aebf2be

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