This SSL draft is based on Texas law. According to a Texas legislative bill analysis, hydraulic fracturing, commonly called “fracking,” is a natural gas drilling method in which a well is drilled vertically more than a mile deep and then extended horizontally into a targeted rock formation Fracturing fluids, consisting of water, sand, and chemical additives, are pumped at extremely high pressure down the wellbore. The fracturing fluids flow through perforated sections of the wellbore and into the surrounding formation, fracturing the rock and injecting sand into the cracks to hold them open. This process is repeated multiple times to reach maximum areas of the wellbore. The water pressure then is reduced and fluids are returned up the wellbore for disposal or for treatment and reuse, leaving the sand in place to prop open the cracks and allow the gas to flow and be collected at the surface.
This Act requires operators of wells undergoing hydraulic fracturing treatment to complete and post a form on a Hydraulic Fracturing Chemical Registry website of the Ground Water Protection Council and the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission disclosing the total volume of water used in the hydraulic fracturing treatment and each chemical ingredient used in it. The Act addresses how some of that information can be protected from disclosure as trade secrets, and how people can challenge designating such information as trade secrets.