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Hydraulic Fracturing Chemical Disclosure Requirements

Current Status:

Comment Period Closed

Jursidiction

Texas - Railroad Commission of Texas

Summary

The Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates oil and gas activity in the state, has issued new rules for disclosing chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing. These rules include a number of exceptions, detailed below. These rules require an operator to submit information about the chemical ingredients and volume of water used in the hydraulic fracturing treatment of a well to the hydraulic fracturing chemical registry Internet website of the Ground Water Protection Council and the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission known as "FracFocus." In addition, a supplier, service company, or operator is not required to disclose ingredients that are not disclosed to it by the manufacturer, supplier, or service company; disclose ingredients that were not intentionally added to the hydraulic fracturing treatment; disclose ingredients that occur incidentally or are otherwise unintentionally present which may be present in trace amounts, may be the incidental result of a chemical reaction or chemical process, or may be constituents of naturally occurring materials that become part of a hydraulic fracturing fluid; or identify specific chemical ingredients that are eligible for trade secret protection based on the additive in which they are found or provide the concentration of such ingredients. Proposed new §3.29(e), relating to trade secret protection, states that a supplier, service company, or operator is not required to disclosure information that is entitled to trade secret protection, unless the claim has been successfully challenged under Texas Government Code, Chapter 552.

Keywords

disclosure, chemicals, drilling, fracking

Comment Deadline

2011.10.11

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