Last week, one of the nation’s largest suppliers of fracking chemicals said it would fully disclose the ingredients of its products. But Wyoming’s top oil and gas regulator says until he sees more information from Baker Hughes about the format of its disclosure, it’s hard to say whether it goes far enough to comply with Wyoming’s disclosure laws.
In 2010, Wyoming was the first state in the nation to require the reporting of the ingredients in frac fluid. But companies can petition for trade secret exemptions to the law. They’ve successfully done that for 326 chemicals. Interim Oil and Gas Commissioner Mark Watson says if Baker Hughes’ disclosure format would eliminate the need for trade secret exemptions, he would welcome it.
“That takes a lot of time to review those, and I think it would be better for the public, where they could say everything’s disclosed and everyone can look at it.”
A Baker Hughes spokeswoman said in an email that the company would disclose the chemical name, chemical abstract service number and concentration of its frac fluid ingredients, but declined to comment on whether that information would be listed by product, well or as one long list.
