On May 7, 2014, the Connecticut legislature passed a three-year moratorium on the storage, treatment, disposal and transportation of all hydraulic fracturing waste within the state even though no fracking is being done and there are no facilities handling drilling waste.
Noting that this bill is “pre-emptive action,” the bi-partisan sponsors expressed concern that near-by New York state which is considering lifting its moratorium on hydraulic fracturing “could send waste to Connecticut.”
The moratorium is to allow the state’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) to research the materials used in hydraulic fracturing and to “submit regulations to the Regulations Review Committee for approval after June 30, 2017 and no later than July 1, 2018.”
The regulations “must (1) subject the [fracking] wastes to the state’s hazardous waste management regulations; (2) ensure any radioactive components of the wastes do not pollute the air, land, or waters or otherwise threaten human health or the environment; and (3) require disclosure of the composition of the wastes.”
This post was written by Barclay Nicholson (barclay.nicholson@nortonrosefulbright.com or 713.651.3662) from Norton Rose Fulbright's Energy Practice Group.
