Bill Would Strengthen Oversight of Fracking
Drillers would have to disclose chemicals
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
15 March 2011
By Jonathan D. Silver
Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., has resumed his legislative effort to force
drilling companies to disclose all chemicals used during hydraulic
fracturing -- the fundamental procedure used to harvest natural gas
from Marcellus Shale -- and bring the process under federal regulation.
The FRAC Act -- Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals --
would once again place fracking under the provisions of the Safe
Drinking Water Act.
Fracking is the process by which drilling companies inject a mixture of
water, sand and chemicals at high pressure into a well to crack the
shale and help the gas flow.
Environmentalists fear the chemicals are a toxic brew that could have
any number of health and environmental impacts.
Industry says the chemicals are safe, make up a minuscule portion of
frack fluid by percentage and are used in low concentrations.
Some companies have been loath to release proprietary fracking
formulas, while others, such as Range Resources, voluntarily disclose
the additives.
An exemption dubbed the "Halliburton loophole" in the 2005 energy bill
removed the ability of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to
regulate fracking.
Mr. Casey's proposed legislation would restore the agency's oversight
and require companies to disclose chemical additives used during
fracking to state agencies.
In turn, those agencies would make the information public online.
Oil and gas companies would also have to reveal proprietary information
about any additives to medical professionals if the information is
necessary for treatment.
Mr. Casey's previous attempt to pass such a bill during the last
session of Congress was stymied.
Jan Jarrett, president and chief executive officer of Citizens for
Pennsylvania's Future, applauded Mr. Casey's latest attempt and agrees
with the senator that voluntary compliance is not a good idea.
"The public wants to know this. It's something that people have been
very clear about," Ms. Jarrett said. "Their suspicions are heightened
when they feel like the industry is keeping secrets."
Giving the EPA the tools to regulate fracking would also help bolster
public confidence that government is adequately regulating the drilling
industry.
"Right now," Ms. Jarrett said, "they see it as just Wild West
unregulated cowboys."
The EPA is in the midst of a study on fracking, updating a 2004 report
that concluded that the process posed a "minimal" threat to drinking
water.
The Groundwater Protection Council and the Interstate Oil and Gas
Compact Commission are putting together a voluntary online database of
fracking chemicals used at individual well sites.
Jonathan D. Silver: jsilver@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1962.