Last year, a hydraulic fracturing (โfrackingโ) chemical fluid disclosure โmodel billโ was passed by both the Council of State Governments (CSG) and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). It proceeded to pass in multiple states across the country soon thereafter, but as Bloomberg recently reported, the bill has been an abject failure with regards to โdisclosure.โ
That was by design, thanks to the billโs chief author, ExxonMobil.
Originating as a Texas bill with disclosure standards drawn up under the auspices of the Obama Administrationโs Department of Energy Fracking Subcommittee rife with oil and gas industry insiders, the model is now codified as law in Colorado, Pennsylvania, and Illinois.
Bloomberg reported that the public is being kept โcluelessโ as to what chemicals are injected into the ground during the fracking process by the oil and gas industry.
โTruck-Sizedโ Loopholes: Fracking Chemical Fluid Non-Disclosure by Design
โDrilling companies in Texas, the biggest oil-and-natural gas producing state, claimed similar exemptions about 19,000 times this year through August,โ explained Bloomberg. โTrade-secret exemptions block information on more than five ingredients for every well in Texas, undermining the statuteโs purpose of informing people about chemicals that are hauled through their communities and injected thousands of feet beneath their homes and farms.โ
For close observers of this issue, itโs no surprise that the model bills contain โtruck-sizedโ loopholes.
โA close reading of the billโฆreveals loopholes that would allow energy companies to withhold the names of certain fluid contents, for reasons including that they have been deemed trade secrets,โ The New York Times explained back in April.
Disclosure Goes Through FracFocus, PR Front For Oil and Gas Industry
The model bill thatโs passed in four states so far mandates that fracking chemical fluid disclosure be conducted by FracFocus, which recently celebrated its one-year anniversary, claiming it has produced chemical data on over 15,000 fracked wells in a promotional video.
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