Policymakers

Energy waste can help us reach global goals

Energy waste includes oily drilling fluids, flowback, and other nasty refuse that result from oil and gas drilling, completion, and production. Other contaminants can include benzene, arsenic, barium, lead, chromium, and selenium. While these wastes are not deemed hazardous by federal laws, the contaminants they contain can pollute soil and groundwater and emit greenhouse gases as they are frequently dumped in open pits or spread out on nearby land. They’re seen as unavoidable byproducts from producing the energy essential to our lives. But if you change your perspective on energy waste, it becomes an enormous opportunity – a new avenue for reducing emissions, meeting social and environmental objectives, and pursuing global climate goals.

The status quo presents serious issues

Energy waste often is dumped into open reserve pits and trenches near the drilling site or tilled directly into the soil, a practice known as landfarming. Reserve pits store waste close to the water table, are prone to leakage, and can damage the land and aquifers so vital to life. By design, these open pits allow hydrocarbon emissions (greenhouse gasses) to escape into the atmosphere.

Landfarming uses heavy equipment to spread the waste over broad stretches of farm and ranchland before tilling it into the soil. Like open reserve pits, this practice leaves the groundwater below, and the air above, vulnerable to contamination and emissions. By contrast, Milestone’s methods present none of these issues. We work hard to protect and preserve the environment, at a similar cost to risky and outdated methods.