You read that right. North Dakota is on the fast track to becoming ground zero for many more tons of radioactive fracking waste. Unbelievably, state health officials have worked to allow fracking companies greater ability to dump more radioactive waste in state landfills.
North Dakota currently exports many of its hazardous fracking waste to neighboring states that are happy to host the deadly substance for a healthy chunk of cash. But the State Health Council recently voted to allow tons of radioactive waste to be dumped in the state, despite hundreds of incidents of illegal dumping, including a 2014 incident involving hundreds of radioactive filter socks that were found in an abandoned building.
Meanwhile, the fracking companies continue to cause accidents that contaminate North Dakota’s environment, with as many as 6 radioactive brine-spilling incidents on record.
If you’re scratching your head, you’re not the only one. Citizens have claimed there was little in the way of public debate on the issue. That seems the only explanation for why policies like this can be passed — the public is uninformed. As DRC member Marie Hoff said, “I don’t believe that people of North Dakota are really going to be happy with this when they found out.”
From Boom to Bust
As the financial promise of fracking fizzles in practice, North Dakota is feeling the pain. Williston, N.D., once a so-called fracking “boom town”, lost 6 percent of its population since last summer. We visited while filming Dear President Obama:
As oil prices continue to plummet, fracking industry’s creditors are starting to panic. And as the promise of economic prosperity sold to fracking states falters, the states themselves are clearly in a state of despearate confusion. When the organizations set up to protect the health of state residents are allowing more radioactive waste to be dumped in proximity of its citizens, the system is clearly broken.