Analyst: Congress poised to mandate gas ‘fracking’ chemical disclosure

Energy legislation that Senate Democratic leaders floated before the August break would require industry disclosure of chemicals used.

Fracking involves high-pressure injections of chemicals, water and sand to break apart rock formations and enable trapped gas to flow. The technique has helped enable a boom in development of gas from shale rock formations in several states — such as Pennsylvania — but is bringing concerns about water contamination along with it.

EPA disclosed Thursday that it has sent letters to nine companies asking for the composition of chemicals they use, data on their health and environmental effects, locations of sites where fracking has occurred and standard operating procedures.

EPA is conducting a broad study of the practice and will hold the next two public hearings Sept. 13 and Sept. 15 in Binghamton, N.Y.

The American Petroleum Institute is hoping public opposition to hydraulic fracturing in the eastern U.S. will lessen once more people become familiar with the method.

“This is a development, a technique that does not have historical operations on the eastern side of country,” API senior policy advisor Stephanie Meadows told reporters in a conference call Friday. “We’ve noticed that the level of concern … comes from a population of people that just aren’t familiar” with hydraulic fracturing, she said.

Meadows said API supports state efforts to publicly disclose information about fracturing operations and the chemicals used in the process but is opposed to federal disclosure mandates. “We don’t feel that there’s a need for federal comprehensive oversight of this,” she said.  “We’ve become used to working on a state level.”

The industry has warned that new federal mandates could make some drilling projects uneconomical.