Mindful
of a court ruling in 1978 striking down a law they passed banning waste
disposal from other states, New Jersey legislators this week passed a new law
banning all disposal of fracking wastewater within its borders, even if the
waste water is produced within New Jersey. The new law is aimed at prohibiting
shipment of 1.3 billion gallons of fracking waste water already generated in
neighboring Pennsylvania from being shipped into New Jersey for deep well
injection.
New
Jersey environmentalists praised the law prohibiting deep well injection of
fracking waste, which they contend contains petroleum hydrocarbons, heavy
metals and radioactive materials, into the rock formations beneath their state’s
soil. Opponents of the new law say it still violates the 1978 interstate
commerce clause ruling. New Jersey Chris Christie last year refused to sign a
law banning fracking within New Jersey’s borders, opting instead for a one year
moratorium on the oil drilling practice. The newly passed fracking waste ban
now awaits either his signature or his veto pen.
