Colorado Requires Fracking Ingredients List

[Tim Smith]

Last week the EPA confirmed the first case of fracking chemicals contaminating groundwater in Colorado (first CONFIRMED case).

This week in a stunning display of efficiency the Colorado legislature UNANIMOUSLY required all drilling companies to list their fracking ingredients. The governor is going to sign it and it's going to be law in Colorado immediately.

http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/12/13/1943689/colorado-approves-disclosure-of.html

Still looking at the details but big kudos to the Colorado legislature. I guess when you live in a semi-arid region you don't mess around with ground water the way they do other places.

What a breath of fresh air.

[flyrodman]

Last week the EPA confirmed the first case of fracking chemicals contaminating groundwater in Colorado (first CONFIRMED case).

This week in a stunning display of efficiency the Colorado legislature UNIANIMOUSLY required all drilling companies to list their fracking ingredients. The governor is going to sign it and it's going to be law in Colorado immediately.

http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/12/13/1943689/colorado-approves-disclosure-of.html

Still looking at the details but big kudos to the Colorado legislature. I guess when you live in a semi-arid region you don't mess around with ground water the way they do other places.

What a breath of fresh air.

Hopefully other states will follow in Colorado's footsteps.

[exiledguide]

I understand they have suspended fracking in Arkansas prompted by the daily earthquakes in the Greenbriar area.

[FishinCricket]

Bout frackin time the frackin idiots figured out that it might be a problem, the frackin frackers...

[ollie]

I saw a news report that said that the companies don't have to tell what the chemicals are. Signed into law by none other than Cheney who is with Haliburton and they are the leading developers of fracking. This was on a report done by ABC out of Montana or ND. The whole program was on fracking and the people that had agreed to have it done on their land and now wishing they hadn't. The money from it no doubt is good, but these people said had they known it would pollute their ground water they would have never let it happen.

[Tim Smith]

I saw a news report that said that the companies don't have to tell what the chemicals are. Signed into law by none other than Cheney who is with Haliburton and they are the leading developers of fracking. This was on a report done by ABC out of Montana or ND. The whole program was on fracking and the people that had agreed to have it done on their land and now wishing they hadn't. The money from it no doubt is good, but these people said had they known it would pollute their ground water they would have never let it happen.

Now is the time for other states to get back in line with sanity and start listing their materials and submitting them for testing. How they ever got away with keeping these things out of the public domain for even a minute just boggles the mind.

I did see today that there is a loophole in the Colorado law. Companies can apply to withhold "trade-secret" components of fracking material but they have to reveal the chemical family of any witheld components and they have to provide the exact compound name to any health professionals that suspect ground water contamination is affecting a patient.

Hopefully the "chemical family" they report won't be a diffuse as "organic" and if things like "aromatic hydrocarbons" or other groups that include carcinogens start showing up in the lists, they'll be forced to provide the full list of ingredients.

[ness]

I saw a news report that said that the companies don't have to tell what the chemicals are. Signed into law by none other than Cheney who is with Haliburton and they are the leading developers of fracking. This was on a report done by ABC out of Montana or ND. The whole program was on fracking and the people that had agreed to have it done on their land and now wishing they hadn't. The money from it no doubt is good, but these people said had they known it would pollute their ground water they would have never let it happen.

When did Cheney ever get to sign anything into law? And, if I'm not mistaken, he's been gone from Halliburton for a long time. Regardless, I don't doubt the meat of what you're saying.

[eric1978]

When did Cheney ever get to sign anything into law? And, if I'm not mistaken, he's been gone from Halliburton for a long time. Regardless, I don't doubt the meat of what you're saying.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=safety-first-fracking-second

"Scientific advisory panels at the Department of Energy and the EPA have enumerated ways the industry could improve and have called for modest steps, such as establishing maximum contaminant levels allowed in water for all the chemicals used in fracking. Unfortunately, these recommendations do not address the biggest loophole of all. In 2005 Congress—at the behest of then Vice President Dick Cheney, a former CEO of gas driller Halliburton—exempted fracking from regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act. Congress needs to close this so-called Halliburton loophole, as a bill co-sponsored by New York State Representative Maurice Hinchey would do. The FRAC Act would also mandate public disclosure of all chemicals used in fracking across the nation."

[ness]

Ahhhhh....so it was Congress. They should have known better.

Interesting that Cuomo lifted the ban in NY.

Hopefully this will gather steam convince Congress they need to vote for restrictions, pronto.

[eric1978]

Ahhhhh....so it was Congress.

Yeah, you're of course right technically...he didn't sign any law. But it's pretty obvious he was integral. The VP is the President of the Senate, after all.