No Toto, this isn't Oklahoma or Texas either... Read further: George Frantz Towanda (PA) Daily Review DEP issues $3,000 fine to Dunn's Tank Service for illegal transfer station in Wysox; Company was storing gas well drilling wastewater without permit Published: October 21, 2009
BY JAMES LOEWENSTEIN The Department of Environmental Protection announced Tuesday that it has fined Dunn's Tank Service Inc. of Towanda $3,000 for operating a waste transfer station without a permit last July in Wysox Township. "Dunn's was storing gas well drilling wastewater in tanker trailers and you must have a waste transfer station permit from the DEP to do that," said DEP Northcentral Regional Director Robert Yowell. "DEP will take similar enforcement action against any other such illegal facility in this region." DEP inspectors investigated a citizen complaint in late July and discovered two tanker trailers at the Dunn site holding about 10,000 to 12,000 gallons of gas well drilling wastewater, the DEP said in a press release that it issued on Tuesday. A Dunn's employee told DEP inspectors that his company was transporting the wastewater to the tanker trailers for temporary storage when disposal facilities were unable to accept it, the press release said. The DEP sent Dunn's a notice of violation letter containing requirements that all wastewater be removed from the site and that no additional wastewater be transported there, the release said. A DEP inspection in August confirmed that the company had complied with those orders, the release said. The fine was paid to the Solid Waste Abatement Fund that pays for cleanups across the state, the environmental agency said. Todd Dunn, owner of Dunn's Tank Service, said his company did not know the storage of the wastewater required a permit. "We're from Oklahoma," he said. "It was ignorance on our part on not knowing the law." He said the wastewater was actually stored at the site in two steel "frac" tanks. In Oklahoma and Texas, storage of wastewater in the frac tanks would not have required a permit, he said. He also said the wastewater that was stored was not hazardous. "It was basically fresh water," Dunn said. "There was no danger," he said. "There was no contamination or anything like that." "I was shocked that they didn't give us a warning," rather than issue a fine, he said. Dunn said that since the fine was imposed, Dunn's Tank Service has held a workshop for its supervisors to make sure they know the DEP rules and regulations that would pertain to the company, he said. Dunn's Tank Service, which is headquartered in Oklahoma, has an office in Towanda. James Loewenstein can be reached at (570) 265-1633; or e-mail: [email protected]. _______________________________________________ For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: [email protected] http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins Questions about the list? ask [email protected] free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
