The Hunt for Yellow 7: Tracking Radioactive Oil & Gas Waste in Our Communities

What do you think of when you see a radiation warning symbol? Most people immediately associate the yellow and black trefoil with nuclear energy facilities, but few know that there’s another large source of radioactive waste in our communities: one that’s much less commonly talked about, and much more loosely regulated. 

The Marcellus Shale Formation runs beneath New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia and is used as a major source of natural gas. Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, releases the gas from the rock by injecting fluids at high pressure. Once the fracking process is completed, the fluid becomes leftover waste, often called “produced water” or “brine.” What’s in this waste? Sand, salt, heavy metals, a cocktail of chemicals, and radioactivity.

That’s why we as residents need to step up to protect our communities. Our new guide will teach you how to track this invisible threat.

You see, the Marcellus shale contains naturally-occurring radioactive material like uranium, radium, and thorium. When these elements are brought to the surface, they can accumulate in waterways and sediment, persisting in our environment for thousands of years. Human exposure to radioactivity is connected to health threats like bone cancer and leukemia. So of course, with a stunning 3 billion gallons of this waste produced every day in Pennsylvania, we want to know exactly where it’s going. However, outdated and disconnected systems make this extremely difficult. 

Recently, PSR PA conducted an investigation into Eureka Resources’ oil & gas waste treatment facility in Standing Stone, PA, which was ordered to shut down and remove all waste from the facility due to severe environmental violations. They found that much of the solid radioactive waste was going to our ordinary municipal landfills. PSR PA’s independent analysis of this waste revealed it had levels of Radium 226 and 228 above what any Pennsylvania landfill can accept, leading the organization to try to determine if PA DEP is even checking the waste’s radiation levels before allowing it to go to local landfills.

As it turns out, PA DEP has been aware of this public safety threat for years. The agency’s 2016 study found that Eureka Resources’ wastewater in Williamsport, PA had radium levels at roughly 1,760 times the federal drinking water limit. The treatment process only succeeded in removing a mere 9% of that radium. Despite this, when Eureka had a major wastewater spill in 2025, DEP's 30-page Administrative Order never once mentioned the words “radioactive” or “radium.” This left PSR PA to ask: “Where did the material we sampled come from, why was it permitted to go to a landfill, and where should it have gone instead?”

For waste that tests above 270 picocuries per gram (pCi/g)—the threshold at which DEP requires it to be shipped as Class 7 Radioactive Waste—the fracking industry's own documentation shows exactly where it should go. A 2017 industry conference presentation by Cabot Oil & Gas and Perma-Fix Environmental Services describes shipping radioactive waste from a Susquehanna County treatment facility via rail lines to specialized disposal sites in Clive, Utah and Grand View, Idaho.

That's the waste with a paper trail. But what happens to everything that tests just under the 270 pCi/g line, stays in Pennsylvania, and goes to municipal landfills under monthly tonnage limits calculated from dose-rate readings? That same industry presentation acknowledges "issues with the multiplier" used to convert those dose readings into an allowable tonnage—meaning even the industry's own technical staff have flagged uncertainty in the math that determines how much radioactive waste a Pennsylvania landfill is permitted to take. Combine that measurement uncertainty with the nearly 1.4-million-ton gap that Inside Climate News found between what operators report sending to landfills and what landfills report receiving, and the tracking system looks less like a "logistical mess" and more like a structural blind spot. 

That is exactly what community watchdogs look for, document, and call out.

We need more eyes and ears in Pennsylvania communities to find out where this waste is going, how it’s being transported, and whether or not it’s being properly labeled as radioactive. Improper disposal of radioactive material poses grave long-term risks to our health and environment, so in order to best protect ourselves, we need more information.

This is why PSR PA and Protect PT just released a new guide  that will help you dive deep into this issue and become prepared to keep watch in your community. You’ll learn about the rules of transport and disposal, what should be happening versus what often happens, what to keep your eyes on, how to keep yourself safe, and how to alert the proper authorities if you notice anything wrong. 

Help us hunt for yellow 7.