Drilling companies might disclose fracking chemicals, perhaps to avoid mandatory disclosure

Following recent chemical spills in Pennsylvania and New York, several natural-gas drilling companies have indicated a willingness to reveal the chemicals they use in their underground fracturing process, a move that current federal legislation would make mandatory, Katie Howell of Environment and Energy Daily reports. Industry executives have previously resisted detailing the mixtures contents because they considered them a trade secret. 'Fracking' uses a pressurized mixture of sand, water and chemicals to break up rock formations and release gas.

"If you buy a can of Coke, you don't know the secret formula -- that's locked away in a vault somewhere -- but you know the ingredients on the can," Amy Mall, a senior policy analyst for the Natural Resources Defense Council, told Howell. "That's how we look at this issue. The ingredients are not proprietary. How much of what's used is proprietary." Aubrey McClendon, CEO and chairman of gas-production giant Chesapeake Energy Corp., told an energy conference last week: "We as an industry need to demystify. We need to disclose the chemicals that we are using and search for alternatives to the chemicals we are using." Executives from Range Resources Corp. and Schlumberger Ltd. have also voiced the need for more disclosure.

Steve Rhoads, president of the Pennsylvania Oil and Gas Association, says drillers in his state have begun testing for contaminants in the mixtures that flow back out of a well after fracking, Howell reports. About 30 Pennsylvania drilling companies are disclosing such flowback water data to the state Department of Environmental Protection to determine what, if any, dangerous chemicals are in it. (Read more, subscription required)

For more information about fracking you can read our post about a National Public Radio series on the process and report about the spills mentioned above.