On June 7, 2012, the New Jersey Senate Environment and Energy committee unanimously approved a bipartisan bill, S.253, that aims to prohibit the treatment of waste products from hydraulic fracturing (also known as fracking), in New Jersey.
Although a one-year moratorium on the drilling method is in effect in the Garden State, the treatment of wastewater and other materials from other states could be a source of economic opportunity. Neighboring Pennsylvania is home to one of the largest sources of hydraulically fractured natural gas in the country, and will develop greater resources to manage the resulting waste products.
The bill, as originally introduced by Senator Gordon Brown (D) in January 2012, would have only banned hydraulic fracturing wastewater from being shipped or transported into, or treated in, New Jersey. However, the most recent version passed by the committee was expanded to prohibit the treatment, discharge, disposal, or storage of wastewater, wastewater solids, sludge, drill cuttings, and other byproducts of hydraulic fracturing in New Jersey.
News of the bill's approval by the Senate committee was met with mixed reactions. While environmental groups praised the broad prohibitions contained in the bill, New Jersey's business community expressed reservations that the bill will close the door on a growing field that New Jersey companies could successfully compete in due to their technical expertise and close proximity to shale natural gas resources.
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