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Drilling rig on the Pinedale Anticline (Linda Baker)

by Marie C. Baca
ProPublica, Nov. 2, 2010, 11:03 a.m.

TWO CHEMICAL MANUFACTURERS are seeking an exemption from new rules in Wyoming that require public disclosure of the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing, a controversial natural gas drilling process suspected of polluting groundwater.

ChemEOR, based in Covina, Calif., and CESI Chemical Inc., based in Marlow, Okla., have asked the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to grant their fracturing fluids trade secret status, according to state oil and gas supervisor Tom Doll. The designation would still require the companies to share their formulas with the state but would exempt them from making the information available to the public.

“Disclosure is the rule,” Doll said. “Anything else is a rare exception, and one we will look at very, very closely.”

Doll said most companies that have approached him over the past month have said they are willing to give their chemical information to both the agency and the public.

The new rules, which went into effect Sept. 15, require drilling companies to tell regulators which chemicals they plan to use in each well before the well is approved. Companies must also disclose the concentrations of the chemicals they used once the operation is complete. The list of chemicals and concentrations is available to the public on the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission website.

If a company claims that certain information is a trade secret, the commission or state courts would review the request and, if approved, the relevant information would be withheld from the public.

Chemical and drilling companies have long argued that their products are safe and that sharing their proprietary information, as the Wyoming law now requires, would harm the industry.

“We2019re not doing this because it’s a personal interest,” said Patrick Shuler, vice president of technology and development at ChemEOR. “We’re trying to keep our people gainfully employed, and that means maintaining our trade secrets and our competitive advantage.”

CESI Chemical did not respond to requests for comment.

Environmentalists and researchers say that if the Wyoming law is implemented as promised, it could create the most comprehensive data yet for studying the relationship between hydraulic fracturing and water contamination.

“If disclosure hurts the industry, then that’s a problem with the industry,” said Deb Thomas, an organizer with the Powder River Basin Resource Council, a Wyoming environmental group. “We shouldn’t be protecting these companies at the expense of the public.”

While the new law makes it difficult for companies to keep the chemicals they use secret, there is a loophole that allows them to delay the disclosure. Under Wyoming law, companies can keep information about their “first, exploratory” well — also known as a “wildcat well” — confidential for six months. The new law maintains this provision.

This loophole dates back to earlier gas drilling legislation, Doll said, and is meant to allow companies to maintain their competitive advantage while they determine the viability of a new drilling area. Once the company files a completion report or the six months expires, the information is no longer confidential.

Drilling companies can ask for an additional six-month confidentiality extension, but Doll has been reluctant to do that. He said he is currently reviewing some 200 wells that were given confidential status before the new guidelines went into effect.

If you want to check out the chemicals used in Wyoming2019s wells, you need two of the three following pieces of data: an API number (the unique number assigned to each well), the name of the company that operates the well, and/or the location of the well. Much of this information can be found on the “Horizontal Wells” link on the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation website. A list of the chemicals that drillers plan to use in each well can then be found by clicking on the “APD’s” link on the main page. The list of the chemicals and concentrations that were actually used in those wells can be found by clicking the “Completions” link on the main page.

Correction: An earlier version of this article stated that ChemEOR was a subsidiary of Flotek Industries Inc. CESI Chemical, not ChemEOR, is a subsidiary of Flotek.

The original ProPublica article can be found here.

‘[W]e think this is a bad project.’

FROM THE CASPER STAR-TRIBUNE:

By Jeff Gearino, Southwest Wyoming bureau

ROCK SPRINGS — Historically, the 62 documented, high-alpine glaciers in western Wyoming’s Wind River Range pour about 1.18 million acre feet of some of the purest water in the country into the Flaming Gorge Reservoir each year, via the Green River.

But records show in the past two decades that inflows have only averaged about 970,000 acre feet of water into the popular lake.

That difference of about 250,000 acre feet is the amount of water Colorado entrepreneur Aaron Million hopes to move through his proposed 520-mile pipeline from the Flaming Gorge to Colorado’s thirsty Front Range.

A veteran Colorado engineer said last week his water conservation district worries there won’t be enough excess water left to be taken out of the Green River system.

If the pipeline is approved, municipal and other entities in southwest Wyoming and western Colorado that rely on the Green River may not have enough water to meet their future recreation, tourism and industrial growth needs.

“There’s just no water for Million for this project,” Colorado River Water Conservation District General Manager Eric Kuhn told members of a local group opposing the pipeline project. […]

[Read the complete article here.]

… Increasing demand for water in the upper Colorado River Basin — combined with fears that climate change could reduce future water supplies — make Million’s massive transbasin water diversion proposal risky at best, Kuhn said.

He said the Colorado River District board shares the concerns of people in southwest Wyoming about moving water from the Green River, and the Flaming Gorge Reservoir it feeds, to Colorado’s bustling Front Range.

“The [Million pipeline] question comes down to inflows into the Flaming Gorge … and all the science suggests a drier future,” Kuhn told members of the Communities Protecting the Green River Committee during an informational meeting Tuesday night.

“If Million is right and flows average 1.18 million acre feet each year, then we should all be OK … but if he’s wrong and we keep seeing that bottom number, then we’re in a world of hurt,” Kuhn said,

“The bottom line is … our district is planning for the worst and that’s why we think this is a bad project,” said Kuhn, who has worked for the district for more than 30 years.

Read the complete article here.

FROM THE CASPER STAR-TRIBUNE:

By Cat Urbigkit, Star-Tribune correspondent

PINEDALE — Mule deer on the Mesa near Pinedale have declined 60 percent in 2009 compared to 2001, and the animals’ numbers are 28 percent lower in 2009 than in 2005, according to the most recent research on the matter.

The Mesa hosts the Pinedale Anticline natural gas field, and the deer decline has been tracked as part of an ongoing research project that has continued for more than a decade, paid for by industrial companies developing energy resources in the region.

Hall Sawyer with Western Ecosystems Technology Inc. explained the most recent research results to a work session of the Pinedale Anticline wildlife annual planning meeting Wednesday. The long-term deer decline result was also compared to Wyoming Game and Fish Department population estimates, which indicated Mesa mule deer numbers declined at a higher rate than the region’s overall deer population.

Read the complete article here…

By Jamie Wolf

By Richard Garrett, Jr.

A MAJOR UTILITY COMPANY TOOK A LOT OF PEOPLE BY SURPRISE on Tuesday when one of its representatives encouraged Wyoming to take the lead in regulating and permitting greenhouse gas emissions.

In a presentation in Jackson to the Wyoming legislature’s joint interim Minerals, Business and Economic Development committee, Cathy Woollums, senior vice president and chief environmental counsel for MidAmerican Energy (the parent company of Rocky Mountain Power) expressed the company’s conceptual support for a permitting/regulatory structure for greenhouse gas emissions that would be created and administered by the state of Wyoming.

The utility company seems to be acknowledging that if the state doesn’t do something to reign in greenhouse gas emissions, the EPA almost certainly will.

In a conversation I had afterwards with the committee co-chair, Sen. Grant Larson, he suggested that the state does indeed have authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions; he seemed to be saying that his committee might support the concept of state regulation if it could preserve the state’s primacy over EPA regulations.

During the break after Ms. Woollum’s presentation, I talked with Rob Hurless, Gov. Dave Freudenthal’s energy advisor. I asked him if the governor had expected MidAmerican’s support for state regulation, and he acknowledged that it was completely unanticipated.

The next day, in his regularly scheduled press conference, it seemed the governor had not yet heard the news from Jackson. In an attempt to describe the state’s reluctance to regulate (and, according to the governor, its statutory prohibition against regulating) greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane, the governor said:

“We interpret [a 1999 Wyoming greenhouse gas law, which was passed in response to the Kyoto Protocol] to say, ‘Look, this is sufficiently ambiguous. That before you jump out and regulate (greenhouse gases) you better get some legislative action one way or the other.’ So, right now we are not prepared to say we can.”

If the state of Wyoming continues to take this position, however, there is a very real likelihood that the EPA will step in and limit emissions.

The governor realizes—as do legislators who heard testimony from the University of Wyoming and General Electric on Monday—that for new, cleaner coal technologies to be deployed it likely means that all CO2 must have a market value. Such an innovation will almost certainly require some kind of regulation.

While it’s true that some CO2 today has value when it is captured, transported, and sold for enhanced oil recovery—we are still dumping vast, unmanaged quantities of the stuff into the atmosphere from coal-fired power plants and other major sources with no monetary and market-based incentive to do otherwise.

Ms. Woollum’s testimony on Tuesday makes it clear that MidAmerican and Rocky Mountain Power are coming to grips with what the Outdoor Council has been saying for so long–it’s time to clean up emissions and prepare to invest in new technologies. Companies have concluded that they can continue to return value to shareholders, provide reliable and affordable energy to their customer bases, and (with luck) do their part to begin to address the very real threats of global climate change and disruption.

There is no doubt that Governor Freudenthal understands all of this and more. He has asserted repeatedly that there is an immense amount of money “sitting on the sidelines” that is waiting to be invested in cleaner energy technologies; and that we need to figure out how to use government action to activate the private sector in a way that modifies behavior but doesn’t choose one technology over another.

Now with the support of industry and environmentalists the governor and the state at last have a chance to “activate the private sector” to move purposefully toward a cleaner energy future that could help build a new, modern, thriving economy and a better environment (more on all of that in my next post).

The Wyoming Outdoor Council will continue to encourage the legislature and the governor to give MidAmerican Energy, GE, and others the regulatory structure and certainty they need.

Contact: Richard Garrett, Jr., energy and legislative advocate, Wyoming Outdoor Council, 307-332-7031 x18; 307-438-9516; richard@wyomingoutdoorcouncil.org.

FROM THE CASPER STAR-TRIBUNE:

By DUSTIN BLEIZEFFER Star-Tribune energy reporter

JACKSON — If the U.S. Senate hadn’t failed to pass energy and climate legislation that came out of the U.S. House of Representatives this year, Wyoming might have seen utilities move forward with “advanced coal” facilities that cut emissions of carbon dioxide.

If the U.S. Senate hadn’t failed to pass energy and climate legislation, Wyoming’s oil industry might have seen plans to capture CO2 at local coal-fired power plants so it can be used to squeeze more oil out of the ground.

The number of missed opportunities keep piling on, and they will continue until Congress enacts a clear climate and energy policy, according to officials at the University of Wyoming and GE Energy.

READ MORE HERE…

By Lisa McGee

THE ROCK CREEK AREA OF THE BIGHORN NATIONAL FOREST is a treasured landscape.

Adjacent to the Cloud Peak Wilderness and encompassing a full spectrum of mountain habitats—from low-elevation forests and canyons to high-alpine lakes—the area is unique for its jagged rock spires, pristine streams, and old-growth aspen groves.

The U.S. Forest Service decided years ago to make the Rock Creek area off-limits for future road building, timber harvest, motorized recreation, or mineral exploration. So there was little public controversy when the agency recommended, in its most recent management plan for the Bighorn National Forest, that Congress designate the area as new wilderness. The new plan was finalized in 2005.

But congress is unlikely to act on this recommendation unless one of Wyoming’s congressional delegation pushes for the wilderness designation.

New wilderness generally needs a “hometown” sponsor to be viable. This is why Wyoming’s congressional delegation needs to hear from you.

The Forest Service and many Wyoming residents—especially locals who value the backcountry hunting, fishing, camping and non-motorized recreation that the area provides—have recommended that the highest and best use of this land is to maintain its wilderness qualities.

Protecting Rock Creek will ensure that future generations can enjoy this place tomorrow as we do today.

So now it’s time for Congress to act—and Wyoming’s congressional delegation should lead the way.

PLEASE CONTACT WYOMING’S CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION

Please take a moment to send an email to Congresswoman Cynthia Lummis and Senators Mike Enzi and John Barrasso.

Ask them to introduce legislation that will protect Rock Creek as wilderness. It would be the first new wilderness area designated in Wyoming in 26 years.

Citizens of Wyoming will be traveling to Washington, D.C. to advocate Rock Creek’s protection during the last week of September.

Your emails of support prior to that trip will make a difference.

You can contact Rep. Cynthia Lummis here.

You can contact Sen. Mike Enzi here.

You can contact Sen. John Barrasso here.

By Jamie Wolf

FROM THE CASPER STAR-TRIBUNE:

By DUSTIN BLEIZEFFER Star-Tribune energy reporter

DESPITE VIGOROUS OPPOSITION FROM INDUSTRY, it appears state regulators and the general public will have broad access to documents detailing chemicals used in oil and gas drilling, hydraulic fracturing and other drilling operations. [read the full article here].

Excerpt:

“I think if there’s an incident, people should have a better feel for what went into the wells,” said commission supervisor Tom Doll. “We’ll see exactly what they pumped into the well. Further, they have to report what comes out of the well after they’ve completed the (well stimulations).”

Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is a process used to crack open rock and shale deep underground to stimulate the flow of hydrocarbons. The process is credited for vastly increasing America’s potential natural gas reserve — by as much as 35 percent in recent years.

But fracking has also come under scrutiny in the Rockies and particularly in the eastern United States, for fear the process could contaminate drinking water supplies. Many different chemicals can be used in fracking, and the industry insisted it didn’t have to disclose individual recipes because companies considered those proprietary.

While a company may request that specific fluid blends be kept confidential, Doll said he’s not going to be easily persuaded on the matter.

“We’re going to make it a little more difficult for companies to claim information is confidential,” said Doll.

Click here for the full article.

FROM THE CASPER STAR-TRIBUNE:

By DUSTIN BLEIZEFFER Star-Tribune energy reporter

Gov. Dave Freudenthal this morning issued a revised executive order updating Wyoming’s sage grouse Core Population Area strategy, first implemented in 2008 to help avoid a listing of the bird under the Endangered Species Act.

The core areas represent habitats where special restrictions apply to several activities, including energy development, agriculture and recreation. The new executive order includes modified boundaries describing the core areas, including corridors for potential electrical transmission lines.

READ MORE HERE…

Click here or on the image to the right to see Gov. Dave Freudenthal’s entire executive order, which includes the final sage-grouse core areas map.