Ore. landfill accepted ND waste from fracking

ARLINGTON, Ore. — A chemical waste landfill near the Columbia River in Oregon accepted hundreds of tons of radioactive fracking waste from North Dakota in violation of Oregon regulations that has alarmed environmental advocates.

But the company won’t be fined because state officials believe landfill operators misunderstood state guidelines, authorities said.

The Oregonian/OregonLive reported that Oregon Department of Energy officials on Thursday issued a violation notice to Chemical Waste Management for its landfill near the small town of Arlington for accepting a total of 2 million pounds of Bakken oil field waste delivered by rail in 2016, 2017 and 2019.

Arlington is about 140 miles east of Portland.

With landfill officials’ permission, a Montana company dumped the waste, some of which registered radium at 300 times the state’s limits. On average, the waste dumped at the landfill about eight miles from the Columbia River registered radium at 140 picocuries per gram, according to Jeff Burright, a state nuclear waste remediation specialist.

Picocuries are a measure of radioactivity and the state’s maximum level for waste stored at the landfill is 5 picocuries.

Environmental advocates plan to pressure state leaders to determine how Oregon became “a fracking dumping ground,” said Dan Serres, conservation director of the Columbia Riverkeeper group that lobbies to protect the river and its water quality.

Regulators said they determined the biggest risks would be if the waste were ingested or inhaled, if people faced direct exposure or if it emitted radon.

Burright said the state does not believe those issues are a risk because of how the waste is stored on the 1,300-acre landfill, including being covered by at least 10 feet of other material.