http://ipraudio.interlochen.org/Brine_WEB.mp3
Some residents in northern Michigan are upset about the practice of spraying liquid waste from oil and gas wells on dirt roads. County Road Commissions have been doing that for decades to control road dust. But an incident this summer has critics accusing state officials of failing to protect human health.
Falls Short
In Benzie County, in June, a county official decided to test the water being sprayed on the dirt roads. It tested at levels way above limits to protect human health from cancer causing chemicals.
The Department of Environmental Quality issued a notice and asked the company, Team Services, to explain what happened. But Janice Heuer with the DEQ says the response didn’t quite do that. “Well, it doesn’t satisfactorily answer why this happened.”
Team Services, based in Kalkaska, says it was human error. Or that a well that was approved for road brine later became contaminated.
The approved brine-water was stored in big tanks that are connected to other tanks that hold waste not supposed to go on roads. Maybe someone turned the wrong valve.
Study To Proceed
Nevertheless, DEQ is giving the go-ahead for a follow-up study to take soil samples along the roads that were sprayed. But it will only look for traces of the toxins that are routinely tested in brine from oil and gas wells.
Chris Grobbel says those are the chemicals in crude oil that evaporate quickly and that no one expects to still be there. He’s an independent consultant who used to enforce environmental rules for the state. He says there are dozens more chemicals that take longer to break down and that are a threat to groundwater.
And Grobbel says the study won’t even try to track how people who live on the roads where the brine was spread may have been exposed. “Was it tracked into people’s driveways from driving through this material back home? Did pets bring it into the house? Did kids track the material into their homes on their shoes,” Grobbel asks.
Human Health Effects
Some residents of the area are worried that this stuff could eventually seep into their water wells. But Janice Heuer with the DEQ has checked well logs and says most are deep and also are protected by a layer of clay between the water well and the surface
“It’s highly unlikely that there’s any long standing health concern,” Heuer says.
Citizen groups in other parts of the state are watching this issue. Jacque Rose is with the Friends of the Au Gres Rifle River Watershed on the other side of the state. And she thinks the DEQ ought to tighten its restrictions on this practice.
“If something like this can happen as a result of just arbitrary human error, then there’s something wrong with the system,” Rose says. She hopes county road commissions to reconsider the use of oil and gas waste to keep down road dust.
More than a dozen county commissions sued the state over this issue and won court approval to continue this practice back in the mid-1980’s.
Janice Heuer with the DEQ thinks now is an excellent time to have this discussion. But she says the state won’t tighten its permits for brine without consulting with the industry.
Independent environmental consultant Chris Grobbel doesn’t see anything of value coming from the study in Benzie County.
“Basic chemistry 101 is being ignored, basic environmental investigation. And in this case, missing any analysis whatever of human health impacts. It’s just a complete failure,” Grobbel says.
Team Services still has to decide how it will change its practice to prevent contaminated brine from going onto public roads. A company official didn’t return a request for comment.