By Shelley Kofler, KERA News
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-970391.mp3
Austin, TX – Texas may soon become the first state in the country to require natural gas drillers to disclose the chemicals they use in a process known as fracking.
A "fracking" disclosure bill is expected to be on the floor of the Texas Senate Wednesday.
As the Texas legislature gaveled into session in January Representative Jim Keffer, an Eastland Republican says he was approached by an unlikely alliance of industry and environmental representatives. They jointly wanted Keffer to tackle a fracking disclosure bill.
Keffer: Almost every day there's an article about fracking and the evils therein. The industry felt it was time to handle this.
Hydraulic fracturing or fracking is a process used by natural gas drilling companies in North Texas's Barnett Shale and across the country. Drillers blast a mixture of highly pressurized water, sand and chemicals underground to break apart rock and release the gas.
The drilling companies have generally refused to disclose the chemicals in their fracking fluids claiming they would be giving up trade secrets.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, landowners and environmentalists have fought back. They claim the public has a right to know which chemicals are being used and whether they're polluting groundwater.
Keffer: People have a right to know what is going down into their land.
Public resistance to drilling in North Texas urban areas was growing. Keffer believed the secrecy surrounding fracking would damage an industry important to the state's economy.
So working with industry and environmentalists Keffer drafted legislation that's expected to pass the legislature in the final days of the session and be signed by Governor Perry.
Keffer: There's going to be disclosure of chemicals and additives that are going to be down hole, and it goes beyond MSDS to every chemical. So you'll have 100% disclosure well by well, location by location.
Keffer says industry would be required to disclosure the list of fracking chemicals on a website already up and running. Drilling companies could protect proprietary fracking formulas but landowners could challenge that protection.
Fort Worth Democrat Lon Burnham, a co-sponsor of the bill, has been a thorn in the side of gas companies. He's called for a drilling moratorium and stepped up safety. Burnham says the environmental community would like stronger restrictions and monitoring of fracking chemicals but the disclosure requirements are a good start.
Burnham: It's the right first step because it's an admission that people have a right to know what's being put into the ground in the fracking process.
Burnham and Keffer say Texas, as the first state to require the disclosure of fracking chemicals, could be a model for the rest of the country.