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A Pennsylvania Community Wins a Reprieve on Toxic Fracking Wastewater

Inside Climate News · By Jon Hurdle · last updated
The decision by PGE to plug a well in a township of fewer than 700 residents rather than inject it with wastewater suggests that fighting the oil and gas industry may not be as futile as some would argue.

By Jon Hurdle

A decade ago, Pennsylvania General Energy first applied for state permits to convert an old natural gas well in tiny, rural Grant Township, Pennsylvania, to take wastewater from nearby fracking operations. The action raised fear among the town’s 700 residents that their drinking water would be tainted with toxic fracking chemicals, and led to its assertion of local authority to control oil and gas development through a home-rule charter.

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The federal government and states are in the process of implementing two laws — the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act — an investment of more than a trillion dollars to address climate change.

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