EPA asks companies to disclose chemicals used in 'fracking'
Share with others:
As part of an ongoing scientific study of the environmental and health impacts of hydraulic fracturing, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has asked nine companies to disclose the chemical components of fluid used in the gas drilling technology also known as "fracking."
The voluntary requests were issued by the EPA Thursday to BJ Services, Complete Production Services, Halliburton, Key Energy Services, Patterson-UTI, PRC Inc., Schlumberger, Superior Well Services and Weatherford.
The information gathered will be used in the two-year federal study that began in March to determine the impacts of fracking fluid chemicals on drinking water supplies and also standard operating procedures at drill sites.
Hydraulic fracturing uses large amounts of water -- between 1 million and 4 million gallons per well -- mixed with sand and chemicals, some of them toxic -- and pumps the mixture under pressure more than a mile underground to crack layers of shale rock and release the natural gas it contains.
The Marcellus Shale formation underlies about three-fourths of Pennsylvania and portions of New York, West Virginia, Ohio, Maryland and Virginia. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection website on Marcellus Shale activities lists 84 chemicals used by well drilling companies in the state.
In addition to collecting information for its research, the EPA is holding a series of public meetings in oil and gas production regions. Results of the study are expected in late 2012.
First Published September 10, 2010 12:00 am
