EPA to Allow Fracking Waste Dumping in the Gulf of Mexico

A fracking site situated on the outskirts of town at dawn in the Permian Basin oil field on January 21, 2016, in the oil town of Midland, Texas. The EPA, under Scott Pruitt’s leadership, wants to allow fracking waste in the Gulf of Mexico without understanding its impact on marine and human life. (Photo: Spencer Platt / Getty Images)

As the Trump administration moves to gut Obama-era clean water protections nationwide, an environmental group is warning the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that its draft pollution discharge permit for offshore drilling platforms in the Gulf of Mexico violates clean water laws because it allows operators to dump fracking chemicals and large volumes of drilling wastewater directly into the Gulf.

In a recent letter to the agency, the Center for Biological Diversity told the EPA that the dumping of drilling wastewater — which can contain fracking chemicals, drilling fluids and pollutants, such as heavy metals — directly into Gulf waters is unacceptable and prohibited under the Clean Water Act. To […]

Full article: As Pruitt Guts Water Rules, EPA Will Allow Fracking Waste Dumping in the Gulf of Mexico