It's not clear to me that the brine referenced in this article is hazardous or coming from hydrofracking operations, but there is clearly some use of gas wastewater being spread on roads throughout the Southern Tier. I tracked through the map and saw a marker for brine spreading in Dryden, which prompted me to download the 273 page PDF (29.5MB) of permits. It's not the Town - page 146 lists Beck Farms as using brine from the TEPPCO facility in Harford, and pages 166-8 and 203 have more details. (The Harford Highway Department is also using it.)
Update: missed a sidebar. The state is also buying brine from TEPPCO for use in de-icing on "Routes 13, 34B, 38, 79, 89, 96, and 96B".
An update on the county legislative redistricting process included this tidbit:
The City of Ithaca's Fall Creek neighborhood showed significant population loss, with the greatest increases in the Town of Dryden and on West Hill in the Town of Ithaca.
I really need to spend some more time with the census data.
Posted by simon at July 21, 2011 12:09 PM in Ithaca Journal , demographics , energy , weather