DENVER Gov. John Hickenlooper announced plans Tuesday to require more disclosure of hydraulic fracturing fluids, even as he offered a full-throated defense of the gas industry.
The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission already requires companies to disclose their fracking formulas to state regulators and doctors if there is an emergency, but the information is not public.
Hickenlooper wants the COGCC to strengthen its disclosure rule by the end of the year, he told the audience at the Colorado Oil and Gas Association convention. A stronger rule will help the industry, he said.
Everybody in this room understands that hydraulic fracturing doesnt connect to the groundwater, said Hickenlooper, a Democrat and former petroleum geologist. Its almost inconceivable that we would ever contaminate, through the fracking process, the groundwater.
He blamed inaccuracies and misinformation in the media he named The New York Times three times for public anxiety about fracking.
Drillers make gas and oil flow out of their wells by injecting high-pressure hydraulic fracturing fluids a mix of water, sand and chemicals to break open underground rock formations. The process will be crucial to any efforts to drill into shale formations in Montezuma County.
Many companies hold the chemical makeup of their fluids as a trade secret. The secrecy has helped stir public fears that fracking fluids can poison drinking water wells, Hickenlooper said.
The best way to fight back on that kind of misinformation is to be transparent, he said.
He did not offer details on what the new rule could be, and he said he has not talked to COGCC commissioners about it. He appointed four new commissioners to the nine-person panel Friday.
COGA President Tisha Conoly Schuller said she will urge that the new rule build on Frac Focus, a voluntary website that many companies are using to publicly report the content of their fracking fluids. Texas, which has one of the countrys strongest public disclosure laws, requires participation in Frac Focus or a similar website.
Frac Focus is a great start, Schuller said. Its easy to use. Its easy for landowners to understand.
Also Tuesday, Hickenlooper said his administration has struck an agreement with COGA to have gas companies pay for water well sampling both before and after the drilling of nearby gas wells.
The state already has a similar program in Southwest Colorado, and it has satisfied regulators that gas drilling is not contaminating water wells, said David Neslin, director of the COGCC.
Big companies have already signed on to the voluntary statewide program.
Hickenlooper thinks the sampling will prove that fracking fluids, which are injected deep underground, do not contaminate the shallower pool of drinking water.
Just the activity of collecting this information will have a very beneficial effect in terms of peoples trust and faith in the industry, Hickenlooper said.
Gas and oil companies will hire independent companies to do the water monitoring, and the results will be reported to the COGCC, which will make them public.
Reach Joe Hanel at joeh@cortezjournal.com.