PITTSBURGH, PA (AP)
Guy Wathen | Trib Total Media
Trucks line up in front of water tanks on a gas well site in Donegal, Washington County.
Pennsylvania will require shale gas
companies to disclose electronically the chemicals they use in hydraulic
fracturing in a new state-run database by next summer.
Department of Environmental Protection
Secretary John Quigley said the department will end its partnership with
FracFocus, an independent online catalog of fracking records, and
develop what he considers a more comprehensive and user-friendly online
database.
“Our goal is to have a reporting tool that
will provide ... much more downloadable and searchable information than
FracFocus,” Quigley said.
The state will require operators to submit
fracturing records electronically by March 2016. The database will start
around June 2016, he said.
“We're not quite there yet, but we're well down the path,” Quigley said.
He plans to eventually integrate the
records into a mapping system. Computer users would be able to click on a
dot on a map and see all of the information for that well, including
fracking chemicals used, inspection records and production reports
submitted to DEP, Quigley said.
“It's going to be a comprehensive data set on oil and gas data in Pennsylvania,” he said.
Several Marcellus shale drillers, including
Range Resources and Chesapeake Energy, began disclosing chemicals
before the state required it in 2012. The North Fayette-based Marcellus
Shale Coalition said the law is comprehensive enough.
“Our organization, which was a very early
advocate of FracFocus participation, is committed to common-sense
disclosure practices,” said spokeswoman Erica Clayton Wright.
The industry has gotten better at
demystifying the process of fracking and drilling for the public, but
broader disclosure is welcome, said Davitt Woodwell, president of the
Pennsylvania Environmental Council. There should be more disclosure
about all materials and liquids used on a well pad, along with those
pumped underground, he said.
“There's a chance to understand that whole
process better,” Woodwell said. “... For us, it's not just the fracking
that's an issue.”
Pennsylvania is one of 15 states, including
Ohio and West Virginia, that use FracFocus to catalog fracking records.
Ground Water Protection Council, a nonprofit association of state
agencies based in Oklahoma City, started running the database in 2010.
The DEP studied FracFocus' effectiveness
last year and decided it did not allow users to download data sets and
search for specific information easily, Quigley said.
“We think we can do even better,” he said.
FracFocus reports include a list of each
chemical added; trade names, including descriptions of what they're used
for in fracking the well; the concentration; and pressure applied in
the well. State officials have access to all the data and determine what
is required. Companies can designate parts of the records they say are
confidential trade secrets, and the state will shield them from public
disclosure in Pennsylvania.
DEP's database will be based on a
disclosure form that separates the list of chemicals and trade names,
which the department hopes will encourage drillers to disclose more.
FracFocus is initiating a similar form when it updates its site this
fall.
“We're just going to try to make the forms
easier for companies who are trying to do it,” said Dan Yates, assistant
executive director for the Ground Water Protection Council. “We're not
forcing anyone to do it, but we're creating the option.”
What constitutes a trade secret remains a
point of contention between drillers who seek to protect billions in
technology investments and maintain a competitive edge, and
environmental advocates who say the public's health depends on knowing
every chemical used.
Pennsylvania's trade secret parameters will
not change with the database unless legislators change the law, Quigley
said. FracFocus does not enforce state deadlines nor check the records
that companies submit, but DEP would, Quigley said.
Once records are submitted electronically,
he said, the department can determine which companies have not filed and
pursue them.
“We would take proper enforcement action, up to and including fines,” he said.
Source:http://triblive.com