Interior opens door to fracking disclosure as enviros cite bigger issues in shale gas drilling

The Obama administration says it has big hopes for natural gas as part of the U.S. energy future but is planning new regulations for shale gas drilling including disclosure of chemicals used on federal lands, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Tuesday. "The potential regulations would set general fracking standards and mandate companies leasing Bureau of Land Management lands for such exploration disclose the list of chemicals they employ to unlock shale gas," Dina Fine Maron of Environment & Energy News reports. Shale gas drilling uses horizontal hydraulic fracturing, which some say can contaminate drinking water.

"In hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, a chemical and water mixture is injected deep underground under high pressure, breaking up shale rock formations that contain natural gas," Maron explains. The Interior Department reports about 11 percent of U.S. natural gas reserves are on public land, controlled by Interior's Bureau of Land Management, and 90 percent of gas wells on those lands use fracking. Regulatory power over fracking currently belongs to the states.  "We want to make sure that natural gas is developed on BLM lands and is developed in a way that is going to be protective of the environment," Salazar said. (Read more, subscription required)

"We have not yet settled on how exactly we are going to move forward with respect to that issue," Salazar said. "Natural-gas companies and drilling operators say fears about fracking chemicals contaminating water supplies are exaggerated," notes Tennille Tracy of The Wall Street Journal. "They are reluctant to disclose the chemicals because they say the composition of those fluids are trade secrets." (Read more)

The incoming chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, Republican Rep. Doc Hastings of Washington state, sent Salazar a letter criticizing his plans and asking him to explain them before the committee. "The request is the first of what Hastings has vowed will be many investigations into Interior's energy policies when he takes the committee gavel," Phil Taylor of E&E reports.

The Environmental Defense Fund notes fracking isn't the only element of shale gas drilling people should be worried, saying other facets have caused more problems. "If people over-emphasize hydraulic fracturing as a risk, they are doing industry a favor," Scott Anderson, senior policy adviser for EDF, told Mike Soraghan of E&E. "They're shortchanging attention that could be focused on practices that cause the bulk of the problem." Anderson said most documented problems with shale gas production have been spills of fracturing fluid, flowback or other toxic substances and methane leaking into water supplies. (Read more, subscription required)