When oil and gas waste ends up in a landfill, it doesn’t just sit there. Water moves through it and creates a runoff called leachate, and a growing coalition of Pennsylvania groups is raising concerns about what that leachate can carry, including radioactive material, and where it ends up: our water treatment plants and waterways. On Thursday, July 23, several of those groups, including our partners at Three Rivers Waterkeeper, are hosting a free webinar on the science, the health questions, and how the state regulates this waste.
The session looks at how landfills across Pennsylvania handle radioactive fracking waste, what the resulting leachate means for nearby communities, and what stronger oversight could look like. Organizers will walk through the science, the health impacts, a Pennsylvania case study, and the tools available to push for change.
Featured speakers
- Dr. John Stolz, Duquesne University, on the science of radioactive leachate
- Dr. Marsha Loalbo, on the health impacts for nearby residents
- Tom Schuster, Sierra Club, on what he argues the state’s leachate report gets wrong
A regional coalition
The webinar is part of a regional coalition pushing for stronger oversight of oil and gas waste in Pennsylvania, including Protect PT, the Sierra Club, Three Rivers Waterkeeper, FracTracker, and the Center for Coalfield Justice.
Details
- When: Thursday, July 23, 2026
- Cost: Free
- Register: through Halt the Harm Network
Can’t attend live? Register anyway and the organizers will send you the recording.
This is the kind of issue that connects the whole basin. What goes into the ground upstream has a way of showing up in the water downstream, and events like this help all of us understand the risks and the options. If you care about where our region’s waste ends up, it’s worth an hour.
