Texas joins Colorado in passing rule for fracking disclosure

Houston (Platts)--13Dec2011/405 pm EST/2105 GMT

The Texas Railroad Commission Tuesday passed a rule requiring disclosure of hydraulic fracturing chemicals, becoming the second state regulatory body to pass similar rules on the same day.

Earlier Tuesday, the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission passed a set of fracking fluid disclosure rules for that state.

Like the Colorado requirements, the Texas rule will require oil and gas operators to disclose on FracFocus.org, a national public website, all the ingredients and water volumes used to hydraulically fracture wells in the state.

"With the passage of this mandatory Hydraulic Fracturing Fluid Disclosure Rule, Texans can be assured they will know more about what is going into the ground for fracturing than what goes into a can of soda," TRC Chairman Elizabeth Ames Jones said in a statement.

The Texas rule will go into effect for wells with an initial drilling permit issued on or after February 1, 2012.

Before the rule passed, Texas, some operators were voluntarily entering chemical data into the FracFocus website for about half of all wells in Texas undergoing hydraulic fracturing.

This past spring the Texas Legislature passed a law requiring the TRC to adopt fracking fluid disclosure rules.

"With support from Governor [Rick] Perry, House Energy Resources Chairman Jim Keffer, the industry and environmental groups like the Environmental Defense Fund and the Sierra Club, we have successfully fulfilled our commitment from earlier this year," Jones said.

--Jim Magill, jim_magill@platts.com

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