Residents protested Tuesday evening about concerns that potentially hazardous waste may make its way onto Long Island's roadways.

Environmentalist Patti Wood says that a dozen counties in upstate New York are using waste water from the process known as hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," to de-ice roads. Wood says she is concerned the water could be used on Long Island as well.

Fracking is the process of extracting methane or natural gas from rock far beneath the surface using water, sand and chemicals.

Wood tells News 12 that the waste is carcinogenic and has been linked to bone and breast cancer.

Both Nassau and Suffolk counties currently have laws that prevent fracking waste from being brought to county-owned sewage treatment plants or being used to de-ice county roads.

However, the law does not cover local or state roads.

Suffolk Legislator William Spencer plans to introduce legislation next week to ban hydro-fracking waste from being used anywhere in the county.