Marcellus Driller Volunteers to Disclose Fracking Chemicals
Philadelphia Inquirer
15 July 2010
By Andrew Maykuth
The company that pioneered Marcellus Shale exploration announced
Wednesday that it was voluntarily disclosing the chemicals used to
hydraulically fracture its natural gas wells, in an effort to defuse
criticism about the process.
Range Resources Corp., which has developed more Pennsylvania Marcellus
wells than any other company since it drilled the first well in 2003,
said it would provide a list of the chemical additives in an effort to
demystify a technique the company says has been safely employed
thousands of times.
"I'm confident, when people see the information, think about it, and
understand it, our hope is that it will alleviate the concerns," said
John Pinkerton, chief executive officer of the Fort Worth, Texas, firm.
Environmental groups and legislators, who have pressed for tighter
regulation of the industry, welcomed Range's move.
"We need to see more details and the disclosure in action, but
providing more information is a step in the right direction," U.S. Sen.
Bob Casey (D., Pa.), a sponsor of the Fracturing Responsibility and
Awareness of Chemicals (FRAC) Act, said through a spokesman. One of the
FRAC Act's provisions is to require operators to disclose their
chemical recipes.
Environmentalists said they were encouraged by the firm's step.
"Range is a big company, and now they've committed to this, it
increases the pressure on other operators to follow," said Bruce
Baizel, senior staff attorney with Earthworks' Oil&Gas
Accountability Project.
Though the oil and gas industry has employed hydraulic fracturing for
decades to stimulate well production, the process has come under close
scrutiny recently as fossil-fuel exploration has moved into more
"unconventional" geologic formations like shale and as well size has
grown dramatically through the use of horizontal-drilling techniques.
In "fracking," millions of gallons of high-pressure water, sand, and
chemicals are injected into a well to shatter the shale to release
trapped natural gas. Sand particles remain in the hairline fractures to
allow pathways for the gas to escape to the well. Some of the
wastewater is recovered and recycled or treated and disposed of.
In the Marcellus, operators say that the fracturing occurs more than a
mile below the surface and that the chemicals cannot migrate upward
through thousands of feet of rock into aquifers.
But the industry's assurances have come under fire, and the process is
being studied by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The industry's reluctance to disclose "proprietary" chemical recipes
has raised further suspicions. Some anti-drilling activists say the
industry injects a "toxic brew" of as many as 596 chemicals into the
wells.
Most companies say they use fewer than a dozen chemicals, most of them
not toxic.
"A lot of the naysayers on the other side are just winging things out
there with no scientific basis, and that's really troubling," Pinkerton
said.
Range says that the chemicals used in its frack fluid typically amount
to 0.14 percent of the total volume injected into a well and that the
chemicals listed as hazardous amount to 0.04 percent. The additives
reduce the fluid's friction and inhibit formation of scale or bacterial
slime that can clog fractures.
By disclosing the chemicals, Pinkerton said, the industry can look for
more environmentally friendly solutions.
"If there's something to replace it with that's greener, we'll do it,"
he said. "I'm a believer that the more light you shine on it, the more
people will look at it and the better solutions we'll come up with," he
said.
For two years, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
has posted online a list of chemicals used in hydraulic-fracturing
operations.
Drilling companies are also required to post the chemicals at their
well sites to provide emergency responders with recommended first-aid
treatments and handling instructions.
But environmentalists say the existing information is inaccessible or
indecipherable. They said new federal laws were needed to force a
uniform disclosure.
If Range Resources is planning to disclose the chemicals it uses in its
drilling operations, there is no reason other companies can't do the
same," said Elizabeth Maclin, TU's Vice President for Eastern
Conservation. "With thousands of wells being drilled throughout
Pennsylvania, knowing what is in fracking fluids is an important step
toward protecting the state's natural resources."