On April 11, 2011 the Ground Water Protection Council (GWPC) and the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC), with funding support from the United States Department of Energy (DOE), unveiled a web-based national registry disclosing the chemical additives used in the hydraulic fracturing process on a well-by-well basis. The information on the website, www.FracFocus.org, covers wells drilled starting in 2011.
Participating energy companies voluntarily upload information about the chemical additives and the proportion used in each hydraulic fracturing job using a standard template.
During this session two bills HB 3328 and SB 1930 have been filed that require companies to post information on the FracFocus website. Both bills have the provision that allows the Railroad Commission to select another website if the GWPC/IOGCC website is discontinued or permanently inoperable.
Key Components of the committee substitute HB 3328 & SB 1930:
- Requires the Railroad Commission by rule to require an operator of a well, or service company, on which a hydraulic fracturing treatment is performed to complete forms on the FracFocus website which includes submitting the following information:
- the total volume of water used in the hydraulic fracturing treatment, and
- each chemical ingredient used in the hydraulic fracturing treatment, regardless of whether the ingredient is subject to the requirements of federal law relating to material data safety sheets.
- Requires the railroad commission by rule to prescribe a process by which an entity required to comply with the bill’s provisions may designate certain information, including the identity and amount of a chemical ingredient used in a hydraulic fracturing treatment, as a trade secret. Certain provisions are also enumerated on challenging that claim.
CSHB 3328 was passed out of the House on May 12 with 133 ayes and 12 nays as amended. The adopted amendment as amended authored Rep. Tan Parker permits a company to not disclose the quantity of non-hazardous chemicals in their fracking fluid.
SB 1930 was heard in the Senate Natural Resources Committee this morning. The Senate bill has been left pending in committee until the House takes a final vote.
All current wells are exempted from the disclosure requirements.
“My understanding is that no other state in the nation has a disclosure requirement as comprehensive,” said Sen. Jane Nelson who sponsored SB 1930. “I think it would set Texas up as a model for the whole country.”