North Dakota lawmakers are looking at a project to treat and recycle the drilling waste for road building and other uses.
The measure would set aside about $65,000 for the state Health Department to monitor a project and develop standards.
Companies targeting the rich Bakken shale formation in western North Dakota get more than crude oil when they drill nearly two miles then angle the well sideways for about another two to three miles. Oil drillers are left with some two dozen semitrailer loads of drill cuttings that either have to be stored on site or dumped in a landfill.
State Environmental Health Chief Dave Glatt says the idea has promise if it can be done in "an environmentally safe manner."