While the industry praised the results as "reassuring," others in government, academia, and environmental advocacy said that it would not not lay the issue to rest, and that more testing and transparency were needed.
The regional administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Shawn M. Garvin, issued a strongly worded letter asking Pennsylvania officials to do more sampling.
Garvin said the tests should add procedures that would account for variability of radiation in streams due to the source and volume of the wastewater being treated. In addition, he asked that drinking-water suppliers near wastewater-treatment plants "conduct sampling immediately" for radioactive contaminants.
He encouraged the DEP to reopen the discharge permits for facilities accepting wastewater because they do not have adequate provisions requiring effective treatment of wastewater from drilling.
Garvin also hinted at further involvement of the EPA in other areas, saying, "Separately, we will be coordinating with you on air-pollution and waste impacts."
Krancer said DEP officials were "reading and evaluating the letter, just like we do with all input that comes to us."
"We will work with EPA to be sure that it is aware of everything we are doing in Pennsylvania," he said.
Radioactivity is an issue in wastewater from drilling. Fracturing the shale to release the gas involves injecting large amounts of water, mixed with other chemicals, deep into the ground. Some of that water returns to the surface, but by then it has been contaminated further by naturally occurring substances, including some with radioactivity.
