Fracking Has a Waste Problem, and Truckers Need a Solution
- Protect PT
- 32 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Fracking has a waste problem. A big one. In Pennsylvania alone, there are 129,000 currently producing oil and gas wells, and for every barrel of oil produced, the industry produces four to five barrels of wastewater (Earthworks 2025). This amounts to billions of tons annually. The wastewater is highly toxic, containing a mixture of chemicals and additives to make it more effective at fracturing rock and coming back up from the earth laced with heavy metals and radioactivity. The question of how to safely deal with this waste has not yet been answered.
Among those vulnerable to exposure are truck drivers. Truckers often transport this wastewater – whether to injection well sites, landfills, or treatment plants – without knowing what’s in it. Due to a lack of adequate information and protections, truck drivers can be exposed to radioactivity and dangerous chemicals that impact both their short-term and long-term health (Hunter 2025).
Health Effects
The potential impacts on truckers are exacerbated when there is improper management of waste from exploration and production activities (USEPA 2016). Some truckers report that they believe they are receiving improperly classed loads from shippers, causing them to come into direct contact with toxic oil and gas waste. Tom McKnight, a truck driver in Ohio, experienced this first-hand. He was responsible for transporting fracking wastewater but was never told about the risks. The waste he was transporting was radioactive, but he never received proper training on handling radioactive materials. Years later, he was diagnosed with cancer. Although he’ll never know for sure, Tom strongly believes his cancer can be traced back to his time working in the oil and gas industry (Bense 2025).
Current Regulations
Oil and gas waste and disposal is covered under RCRA, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. Under this act, oil and gas waste is considered exempt from regulation as “hazardous waste.” Federal laws governing hazardous material transport require extra precautions like warning labels, employee training, and emergency response and reporting protocols. However, regulations for the movement of hazardous materials on highways are separate from RCRA (USEPA 2016). This gives state governments the opportunity to close the regulatory loophole and create safer transport of oil and gas wastewater.
Policy Recommendations
To protect truck drivers and Pennsylvania residents, our government needs to put regulations in place to hold industry accountable. We need to classify oil and gas waste as hazardous and subject waste transportation to stricter regulations. All oilfield drivers should be provided the opportunity to obtain HAZMAT endorsements (Hunter 2025). This would guarantee workers handling oil and gas waste are trained to deal with radioactive materials, have the equipment to do so, and are wearing proper PPE. Even with these precautions, truckers are consistently putting their health at risk when transporting this waste and they should be compensated fairly because of it. A proper hazard pay from the Department of Transportation should be offered to the appropriate at-risk workers in the oil and gas waste industry.
Fracking companies can have a large and long-lasting impact on the environment, the health of their workers, and the health of the community they operate in. Everyday, truck drivers put their lives on the line. They deserve transparency and adequate protections to safely handle these hazardous loads. And if the fracking companies won’t give it to them, then our government should.
Check out this letter from Earthjustice and Truckers Movement for Justice, which Protect PT signed onto to call for better protections for truckers.
Sofia Shields
Environmental Policy Intern
Protect PT
References
Bense, Kiley. 2025. “Truckers Say Oil and Gas Companies Are Violating Hazardous Materials Transport Regulations - Inside Climate News.” Inside Climate News. June 29, 2025. https://insideclimatenews.org/news/29062025/truckers-movement-for-justice-oil-gas-hazardous-materials/.
“Ending Oil & Gas Expansion - Earthworks.” 2025. Earthworks. February 13, 2025. https://earthworks.org/campaigns/ending-oil-and-gas-expansion/.
Hunter, Megan. 2025. “Request for Enforcement of Hazardous Materials Laws in U.S Oil and Gas Fields .” Earthjustice. June 4, 2025.
US EPA, OLEM. 2016. “Management of Oil and Gas Exploration and Production Waste.” US EPA. April 26, 2016. https://www.epa.gov/hw/management-oil-and-gas-exploration-and-production-waste.