On November 9, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released a press statement that announced that “eight out of the nine hydraulic fracturing companies that received voluntary information requests in September have agreed to submit timely and complete information” regarding the makeup of the fluids they utilize in hydraulic fracturing. Additionally, the companies have agreed to supply or have already supplied the EPA with “data on the impacts of the chemicals on human health and the environment, standard operating procedures at their hydraulic fracturing sites and the locations of sites where fracturing has been conducted.”
The information is to be used to determine whether fraccing and fraccing fluids have the potential to have adverse effects on “drinking water and public health.”
The study, mandated by Congress, must provide initial results by the end of 2012.
The lone holdout to the request for voluntary information was Halliburton, which invented the fraccing process–a process of blasting water, salt and chemicals into a well to separate layers of shale and release the natural gas and oil trapped in them. The company has been issued a subpoena by the EPA which requires it to turn over the requested information.
