For more than a half-century, there has been a widespread and largely unmonitored practice of spreading wastewater from oil and conventional gas drilling, by the millions of gallons, onto dirt and gravel roads in rural Pennsylvania.

The practice has found itself awash in controversy in recent years as a number of scientific studies have found that the wastewater brine contains unhealthy levels of radiation from naturally occurring radium as well as toxic chemicals such as benzene, iron, manganese, strontium, barium, aluminum, zinc, lithium, copper and lead.

In addition to being a hazard to human health, runoff of the wastewater can harm nearby streams, killing aquatic life and over time making streams too salty for trout, the studies found.

A recent study by Penn State found the brine is no more effective than plain water for dust control and in some cases can damage roads.

The oil and gas industry has fought back, saying the brine is a free and effective tool for municipalities and does not cause any harm to people or the environment when spread in the right places and the right times.

  • @surewhynotlem
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    17 days ago

    As a Pennsylvanian who understands how two-party system voting works, I would vote for a double Josh Shapiro before I’d vote for a republican.

    And I’d hate every second of it. But the other option is, well, I guess we’ll see for the next 4 years.

    • @[email protected]
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      37 days ago

      he pied pipered his way into the governors office, after he promised to use his office as ag to fix the opioid crisis. he lied. not only did he not fix it, his method was to prosecute people overprescribed, instead of the pharma companies. he backs the police, he’s building a cop city. he is a fucking Republican.

      please don’t vote for him for president.

      • @surewhynotlem
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        47 days ago

        In our form of government, you only ever vote for the least worst candidate. If he wins the Democrat primary, he’s likely to be the least worst option.

        Until we get something like FPTP voting, of course.

        • @[email protected]
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          17 days ago

          I am not going to vote for him again. it made me sick to do it in 2022 after he squandered his ag position and then helped mastriano win the primary.

          • @surewhynotlem
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            27 days ago

            I can’t disagree with the feeling. There’s a limit to everyone’s ability to “hold their nose and vote”. But if it’s a third Trump term (because they repeal that amendment), then I’m motivated.

    • sunzu2
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      07 days ago

      Josh Shapiro supports Israeli genocide in Gaza and was dunking on Luigi. Americans will accept anything as long it is slighting better than “something”

      • @surewhynotlem
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        17 days ago

        Yes, that’s what I said. Two party system. Until we change that, the only thing you can do is vote for damage reduction.

        We need at least FPTP.