Casella Forms Joint Venture to Pursue Fracking Wastewater

Date: March 12, 2013

Source: News Room

Casella Waste Systems, Inc. (Rutland, VT) has formed a joint venture with Altela, Inc. (Albuquerque, NM) to manage wastewater from hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," for oil and gas. Under the entity Casella-Altela Regional Environmental Services (CARES), the companies have established a pilot treatment operation adjacent to Casella Waste's McKean County landfill in Mount Jewett, PA, which is utilizing landfill gas to dry sludge extracted from the wastewater. The landfill also accepts solids extracted from the wastewater. "We are able to take the solids that we extract from the water and make it into a filter cake and that cake, we can just bring it across the street to the landfill. That's certainly one huge benefit of having that so close to us," said Jerry Leone, general manager of CARES.

Other companies including Clean Harbors (Norwell, MA) and Waste Connections (The Woodlands, TX) have already placed ambitious bets on the oil and gas waste treatment business based on the expectation of growing domestic activity along with the possibility of more stringent federal and state regulations governing the treatment and disposal of such wastes. Waste Connections bought R360 Environmental Solutions, an oilfield treatment and disposal services company, for about $1.3 billion last September. Clean Harbors bought Peak Energy Services, a Canadian industrial waste and oil and gas field services provider, for CAN$202 million in June 2011.

See also: "Waste Connections Makes Bold Play in Oilfield Waste for $1.3 Billion," (www.wasteinfo.com/news/wbj20120918A.htm), September 17, 2012.

See also: "Clean Harbors Closes Peak Energy Services Acquisition," (www.wasteinfo.com/news/wbj20110614G.htm), June 13, 2011.

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