The state's Health Council voted in favour of the rules Monday, the Associated Press reported.
The
current rules allow up to five picocuries of radiation per gram. The
new rules, passed on Monday by the State Health Council, which could go
into effect by January, allow up to 50 picocuries.
According to
the AP, one official said the five-picocurie limit is low enough to be
registered by a granite countertop. Meanwhile, Texas and Washington set
their limits at 10,000 picocuries.
Under the new rules, landfills
would be able to accept radioactive oilfield waste such as filter socks,
which must be shipped out-of-state for disposal. The shale boom in
North Dakota, combined with one of the lowest radiation limits in the
country, has led to a growing trend of illegal dumping within the state.
Last year, officials discovered what was believed to be the largest case of illegal dumping
in the state's history near the town of Noonan. There, regulators found
more than 200 55-gallon trash bags filled with oil filter socks in an
abandoned auto repair shop.
Earlier this year, about 100 new and used filter socks were found
in garbage bags inside a facility in the town of Williston. Green
Diamond Environmental Trucking Services, which owns the facility,
claimed the filter socks were dropped at the site by another company.
Opponents
of the new rules caution that they could make North Dakota a dumping
ground for other states, but an official told the AP that an influx of
waste from outside the state was unlikely because of transportation
costs.