Looking for information about hydraulic fracturing? The Ground Water Protection Council (GWPC) and the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC) launched their new joint website today to respond to concerns about the chemicals used in fracturing operations. It's called FracFocus and can be found here.

The website provides information on the makeup of fracturing fluid, the need for chemicals that make the fluid slick and kill corrosion-causing bacteria, and it lists the various names of the chemicals used to coax oil and natural gas from shale rock formations.Website visitors also can obtain a list of the chemicals that have been used at drill sites near their locations.

To clear up misconceptions, the website explains laws that pertain to oil and natural gas field chemical disclos... more »

API has announced that it supports the voluntary chemical disclosure registry being developed by the Ground Water Protection Council (GWPC) with the endorsement of the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC). The registry is a step toward providing information about the chemicals in hydraulic fracturing fluids while protecting drilling companies' intellectual property.

API President and CEO Jack Gerard pledged that API will work with the GWPC to enhance the registry program's overall effectiveness. He added, "But it is critical that we ensure confidential business information is protected."

The voluntary, state-based electronic registry will have two phases. The first phase will allow companies to report data on a well-by-well basis, disclosing information about hydraulic fractur... more »

A few days ago, a reader submitted a comment to this blog in which she posed several questions about hydraulic fracturing. Her final question asked why the hydraulic fracturing issue had become so adversarial:

"You have a great deal of knowledge to share regarding this process. Why don't you share it to make sure we can extract these resources in a way that reflects the trade-off we as citizens wish to make concerning the use of our resources and our quality of life?"

Although we have shared quite a bit of information about hydraulic fracturing on this blog, this question makes it clear that this reader and perhaps many other Americans continue to be concerned about fracturing and want to consider the pros and cons for themselves. To that end, I am providing the following third-party i... more »

On the surface, the companion bills introduced into the U.S. House and Senate seem quite benign. They propose to regulate hydraulic fracturing under the Safe Drinking Water Act, adding federal oversight to the oil and natural gas field process. In actuality, they could be an economic disaster waiting to happen.

First, some background information. Hydraulic fracturing is the process in which a liquid is pumped down the well to make tiny fissures in the rock and prop the cracks open with sand or another proppant. This practice has been in use for more than 50 years and is a routine step in the production of oil and natural gas that's trapped in hard, non-porous rock formations such as shale. Hydraulic fracturing, like other oil and natural gas development practices, is regulated under state... more »

Have you ever heard of shale gas? It's the naturally occurring, clean-burning gas that is found in shale rock formations, and it's becoming increasing important as an energy resource in the United States. In fact, the U.S. Department of Energy says there is enough so-called unconventional gas (shale gas, tight sands and coalbed methane) in the United States to supply our energy needs for the next 90 years. Other estimates extend this supply to 116 years.

Today, a House subcommittee is holding a fact-finding hearing on shale gas development. Because this form of gas is locked in layers of hard shale, it's more difficult to produce than gas that easily flows through underground sand formations. To encourage shale gas to move toward the well, a process called hydraulic fracturing is re... more »