Download our template letter for sending to your NJ State Senator
The materials presented here were developed by our colleagues in the Delaware RiverKeeper Network.

On August 11, Governor Christie officially vetoed the Frack Waste Ban Bill. This legislation (Senate Bill 1041) would have prohibited the treatment and discharge of toxic and radioactive frack waste in our state. It would also have prevented polluted fracked drill cuttings from being dumped in our landfills and liquid waste from being sprayed on roads as a de-icer or dust suppressant as they allow in Pennsylvania and New York.

The Frack Waste Ban Bill has been re-introduced and will be voted on again soon. With enough votes, the governor’s veto will be overriden and we will have the bill’s protections in place. The original frack waste bill passed the senate by an almost unanimous vote (32-5). If all the Senators who voted for it now vote for the override, this legislation will become law.

YOU have the power to make this happen. Please take a minute to send a letter to your Senator today. Gas companies have already dumped toxic and radioactive frack waste in New Jersey and without the frack waste ban, there’s nothing to stop them from continuing to do so. Your Senator’s support is vital to protect our public health, our communities and water supplies from this dangerous pollution.

Talking Points

• The bill prohibits discharge, disposal, processing, storage, or application to a roadway or otherwise release into the environment of waste from the processes of hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking”, for natural gas in NJ, no matter where it originates.
• We need this ban on dumping now because NJ is right next door to fracking in PA where a flood of waste is produced every day but fracking could even occur here in northern New Jersey’s gas-bearing shales or in the Delaware River Watershed or adjacent New York State should moratoriums be lifted, creating an even greater stream of toxic waste we can’t handle and can’t afford to accept. For USGS report on shales that could be fracked in NJ: http://bit.ly/1v7V12l
• 5 million gallons of frack wastewater and 478+ tons of drill waste has already come to NJ and been dumped in our communities; some was so radioactive it violated facility permit limits. Frack waste is so highly toxic we have no facilities that can safely purify it, jeopardizing our drinking water and air; the federal government hasn’t even issued treatment guidelines yet. For details on frack waste in NJ: http://bit.ly/1izvrbB
• In Pennsylvania and New York some gas drilling wastes can be applied to roads and could be sent here and we wouldn’t even know it because of inadequate records to track where the de-icer or dust suppressant was applied.
• The DEP has issued revised guidelines on drill cuttings that would continue to allow this polluted and often radioactive material to be dumped in our landfills; lack of adequate tracking of this waste means that it could even be coming here now. These actions by the DEP underscore the need for a legislative ban to stop this dumping.
• NJ is the most densely populated state in the Nation, already facing fracking pollution from new pipelines and other gas infrastructure and a legacy of industrial pollution; we can’t afford this!
• The bill complies with federal laws governing commerce according to the nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services (see the Memo here).

Your letter to your NJ State Senator today can help keep frack waste out of The Garden State (Download our template letter)