Pennsylvania environmental regulators announced Thursday that they will study the naturally occurring radioactivity associated with oil and natural gas development, which activists have raised as a threat from Marcellus Shale drilling.
The Department of Environmental Protection said the peer-reviewed study would examine radioactivity levels in liquid and solid wastes from drilling, and how the materials are transported, stored, and disposed.
Some environmentalists have raised fears that the natural radioactive material contained in deep bedrock might contaminate drilling wastes, streams, and even the natural gas itself.
The DEP says it routinely reviews radioactivity data in wastes. In 2011, it conducted tests of radiation in seven streams where treated drilling wastewater was being discharged, a practice since halted. The results showed that radioactivity levels were at or below normal background levels.