By Ann Rascalli

Wyoming state regulators unanimously approved new rules Tuesday requiring oil and gas companies to disclose chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing (frac’ing), despite intense industry opposition.

Frac’ing has been used for years to crack gas-bearing rock formations deep underground to stimulate natural gas production, particularly for hard-to-reach shale gas formations.

Environmental and public health advocates hailed the passage of the new reporting rules as a victory of public safety over corporate secrecy.

Advocates for more stringent public disclosure of frac’ing fluids believe the process poses an environmental problem because the chemicals can leak into water sources underground, and the chemicals could spill during handling on the surface.

“This ruling was the right thing to do. One look at the Gulf of Mexico is proof that things don’t always turn out the way drilling companies expect,” Western Resource Advocates staff attorney Dan Heilig said in a prepared statement.

The oil and gas industry likes to point out that not a single water contamination incident caused by frac’ing has been proven, and their track record with the process is very good. But environmentalists counter that lax reporting requirements prevent the public from knowing whether frac’ing contaminated drinking water sources.

The industry is also concerned about having to disclose the  proprietary chemical mixtures used in frac’ing.

To that end, the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission adopted language in the new rules that would require state regulators not to share certain information with the public if a company can prove it is proprietary.

“They will have to go out of their way to say, ‘We want you to hold this information as confidential,’” Oil and Gas Commission Supervisor Tom Doll said. He also noted the WOGCC agrees to keep any information confidential, the staff will have the information so it can carry out the agency’s charter to protect groundwater and drinking water supplies.

Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal, a member of the oil and gas conservation commission, directed the agency to draft the new rules so the state could assure federal regulators that it, and not Washington D.C., should maintain regulatory control over frac’ing.

Earlier this year, we reported that the Environmental Protection Agency began a new two-year research effort to investigate the potential adverse impacts of hydraulic fracturing on water quality and public health.

A “good step forward” is how Steve Jones of the Wyoming Outdoor Council labeled the commission’s vote.

“This was an important decision,” Jones said in a prepared statement. “I think we’d all like the state to be able to work proactively to protect workers and residents. These rules, if stringently applied, should help regulators do a better job of protecting rivers and streams and underground aquifers from contamination.”