The board of a Niagara Falls, N.Y. wastewater plant is being accused of “environmental classism” after hatching a plan to treat chemical-laced water used in a controverial gas drilling operation.

Emma Lui, a water campaign manager for the Council of Canadians, said a plan by the Niagara Falls Water Board to treat “fracking water” puts the already economically depressed community and its Canadian neighbours at risk. The board is considering treating the water, which contains chemicals, in order to make money.

“It almost seems like it’s a little bit of environmental classism,” Lui said. “If there are poor neighbourhoods that need the money, then the population of that city has to deal with the environmental consequences of such a project.”

The board could make millions of dollars treating water used in shale gas extraction being conducted in Pennsylvania.

Sand, water and chemicals are used in the horizontal drilling process to fracture rock containing the gas and then force it to the surface. The process uses millions of litres of water, which must be treated before it can be released.

But Lui said it’s difficult to treat the water when companies don’t have to disclose which chemicals they use in their drilling mixes.

She’s urging the board to do its own research into the fracking water.

“The concern is that the Niagara Falls Water Board has not done any research on the fracking process broadly,” she said. “They’re just looking at the end part, without looking at what the various chemicals are.”

Lui said endocrine disrupters, like chemicals used in flame retardants — that have been shown to cause birth defects — were recently discovered in the Great Lakes during a study by the International Joint Commission. Those same chemicals can be found in fracking water, and could compound the problem in Lake Ontario, she said.

“With this type of project, we don’t know what kind of cumulative effects it will have on the Great Lakes if there are already endocrine disrupters detected.”

The council is urging the board to hold public consultations and to do its research before signing on to treat the water. Lui called the plan “narrow-minded and short-sighted.”

“This is a very big decision that they’re going to make,” she said. “It has impacts not just on their area, but all people on Lake Ontario. Hopefully, there will be broader consultation on this.”

An association of mayors on both sides of the Great Lakes is keeping tabs on the issue, but hasn’t formed an official stance on it yet.

“The position we’ve taken so far, until we get more information, is that nothing be done in terms of the hydro-fracking that could in any way contaminate the lakes, the St. Lawrence basin and the underground aquifers,” said St. Catharines Mayor Brian McMullan, who chairs the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative.

Niagara Falls Water Board spokesman Earl Wells said the group has been investigating having fracking water brought by truck or rail to the facility. Treating the water would be a revenue generator for the treatment plant that has seen profits drop as water use — along with the city’s population — plummet.

“You’ve got a city that continues to lose population and lose business and the burden of paying for the infrastructure is falling on fewer and fewer people.”

Wells said the board has not made a final decision, and is waiting for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to bring down rules on drilling shale and fracking water treatment.

“Everything is in their hands as far as what rules they’re going to put forth,” he said. “Nothing is going to happen in the near-term.”

Wells said shale gas could bring jobs and tax revenue to the entire state. If the water board can help, it will, he said.

“All we’ve ever said was, if the Niagara Falls Water Board can be a solution to help New York State get some of this economic impact, we’re willing to sit down and talk.”

Wells said it’s not clear if the treatment plant will need costly upgrades to handle the fracking water. It’s possible the venture will be too expensive to pursue, he said.

“The economic model still needs to be fleshed out quite a bit,” he said.

via U.S. plan to treat fracking water could be risky, group warns – St. Catharines Standard, Niagara Region, Sun Media – Ontario, CA.