ALEC and ExxonMobil Push Loopholes in Fracking Chemical Disclosure Rules - ProPublica

"ALEC and ExxonMobil Push Loopholes in Fracking Chemical Disclosure Rules!"

A Consol Energy gas drilling rig outside Waynesburg, Pa. (Mladen Antonov/AFP/Getty Images)

by Cora Currier  ProPublica, April 24, 2012, 2:06 p.m.

• One of the key controversies about fracking is the chemical makeup of the fluid that is pumped deep into the ground to break apart rock and release natural gas. Some companies have been reluctant to disclose what's in their fracking fluid. Scientists and environmental advocates argue that, without knowing its precise composition, they can't thoroughly investigate complaints of contamination.

Disclosure requirements vary considerably from state to state, as ProPublica recently charted. In many cases, the rules have been limited by a "trade secrets" provision under which companies can claim that a proprietary chemical doesn't have to be disclosed to regulators or the public.

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One apparent proponent of the trade secrets caveat? The American Legislative Exchange Council, better known as ALEC, a nonprofit group that brings together politicians and corporations to draft and promote conservative, business-friendly legislation. ALEC has been in the spotlight recently because of its support of controversial laws like Florida's "Stand Your Ground" provision.
This weekend, as part of a story on ALEC's political activity, The New York Times noted that the group recently adopted "model legislation" on fracking chemical disclosure, based on a bill passed in Texas last year. According to The Times, the model bill was "sponsored within ALEC" by ExxonMobil, which runs a major oil and gas operation through its subsidiary, XTO Energy. The advocacy group Common Cause, which provided the documents on ALEC's lobbying efforts to The Times, describes model legislation, in many cases identifying by name the company that proposed it to ALEC's task forces.
ALEC has recently removed its list of model bills from its main website, and did not respond to requests for comment. A spokesman for XTO Energy confirmed that the company is a member of ALEC, but he did not provide details on the company's involvement with the disclosure bill.
The spokesman said ExxonMobil supports "full disclosure of the ingredients and additives in hydraulic fracturing fluids," but added that when vendors request it, ExxonMobil has "respected the trade secret status of their products." Last year, the company began voluntarily uploading chemical disclosures to FracFocus, a clearinghouse website run by the Groundwater Protection Council and the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission.
In a recent blog post, ALEC claimed that legislators in Pennsylvania, Illinois, Indiana, New York and Ohio have introduced versions of its model bill, but many of those states vary in the level of disclosure required and how they handle the trade secrets provision. Laws in 11 states require at least partial disclosure, and the Bureau of Land Management recently drafted disclosure guidelines for drilling on federal land.
These laws have been relatively well-received by environmental advocates, though the trade secrets issue remains a concern for some. In Ohio, for example, proprietary chemicals don't have to be disclosed to regulators or the public. In Pennsylvania, they are disclosed to regulators, and the public can request information on them from the state Department of Environmental Protection on a case-by-case basis.
The Texas law, which ALEC cites in the post as its template, codifies the trade secrets exemption, and who can challenge it:

The "trade secret" exemption (p. 3)

Otherwise, Texas' law requires that companies post disclosure forms for each completed well on the FracFocus site. They must disclose all chemicals but only report the concentrations of those that are hazardous. The law also requires that the companies give the total volume of water used in fracking.
The Environmental Protection Agency cannot regulate fracking in order to protect groundwater, because in 2005 Congress exempted fracking from the Safe Drinking Water Act, which controls how industries inject substances underground.
According to ALEC's blog, the model disclosure legislation is designed to promote "responsible resource production" and "aims to preempt the promulgation of duplicative, burdensome federal regulations" from the EPA, in particular. ALEC has consistently opposed any federal control over fracking. In 2009, the group adopted a "Resolution to Retain State Authority Over Hydraulic Fracturing."


ALEC and ExxonMobil Push Loopholes in Fracking Chemical Disclosure Rules - ProPublica

Official BullShit from Congressman Cynthia Lummis- When I am home in Wyoming, the top concern I hear about is out-of-control federal spending.

Official BullShit from Congressman Cynthia Lummis-

When I am home in Wyoming, the top concern I hear about is out-of-control federal spending.

December 27, 2011 William Harasym 200 Smith Street, Apt. 410 Sheridan, Wyoming 82801-3842 Dear William: Thank you for contacting me regarding the federal budget.  It is good to hear from you. With $15 trillion in national debt hanging over the future of our children and grandchildren, President Obama and the Democrats in Congress have failed to take meaningful action to control government spending.  Past Republican Congresses and Administrations did their fair share of overspending.  But this does not excuse Democrat leaders for making a bad fiscal situation demonstrably worse.  Since President Obama took office, he and the Democrats in the House and Senate have presided over a failed $1.1 trillion economic stimulus bill, the release of $350 billion in Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds, and annual trillion dollar deficits. I really am an idiot and have no clue about economics, but just parrot what my masters tell me to say, even if it's false---just sayin'!  My Republican colleagues in the new Republican Majority in the House have selected me to serve on the House Appropriations Committee, which sets specific federal expenditures for government agencies and departments. Specific expenditures of our government must stay within the confines of allocations set by the budget resolution. This is a blueprint of government spending for the current year, as well as a projection for the decades to come. The President's budget proposal submitted to Congress in February would spend $3.8 trillion this year, the highest percentage of Gross Domestic Product since World War II. Over ten years it includes $8.7 trillion in new spending; nearly doubling the size of government since the day he took office. It would also collect $1.6 trillion in new taxes and add $13 trillion to the nation's debt over 10 years. This propels our country on a path to bankruptcy and I plan to stand with my Republican colleagues in demanding spending reductions or other budgetary concessions whenever possible. Raising the debt ceiling before August 2nd provided the Republicans with the leverage to demand immediate cuts instead of handing over a blank check. The Budget Control Act ensures Congress cuts government spending more than any increases in the debt limit. The first $900 billion increase in the debt limit was accompanied by $917 billion in cuts over 10 years. The Budget Control Act also set up a Joint Committee of Members of Congress to recommend at least $1.2 trillion in spending cuts before any additional increases to the debt limit. Since this Committee was ultimately not successful, we now face an automatic sequestration process which will enforce across-the-board cuts to lower our government's spending. Overall, the Congressional Budget Office projects the measure to save $2.117 trillion over 10 years, which puts us on a path to reversing the current spending trajectory and making progress towards greater fiscal responsibility. House passage of the Fiscal Year 2012 Republican budget, "The Path to Prosperity," is a good framework for the fiscal path I will insist on moving forward. This blueprint preserves and strengthens health and retirement programs. It streamlines the tax code, halts Washington's sprawl in favor of a smaller, leaner federal government, and it empowers America's job creators to start hiring and to grow the economy. Additionally, 'The Path to Prosperity' cuts $6.2 trillion in government spending over the next decade alone. This historic proposal is a clean cut from the reckless budget policies of the past. When I am home in Wyoming, the top concern I hear about is out-of-control federal spending.  I will use my seat on the Appropriations Committee to ensure the people of Wyoming's concerns will be expressed loud and clear.  I have not requested a single earmark since taking office and I am happy to say that my Republican colleagues in the House have decided to follow suit by banning earmarks in the next budget cycle.  I support legislation putting an end to the automatic pay raises given to Members of Congress every year.  These are all important steps towards changing the culture of spending in Washington, but tinkering around the edges of our spending addiction will not solve the problem. Achieving lasting budget balance will not be possible unless Congress is forced to make tough decisions, including reform of our unsustainable entitlement programs.  Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid are plagued with trillions in unfunded liabilities and will eventually collapse under their own weight if they are left unchanged.  Action must be taken sooner rather than later if we are to preserve these programs for future generations and avoid impacting current retirees that have planned their retirement around a promise of government benefits. Under the new Republican Majority, I am committed to advancing budget alternatives that put faith in individuals, small businesses and private sector investment to get us out of the recession, not big government spending.  I will continue working to restore fiscal sanity to a federal budget that, if set on the trajectory proposed by President Obama, will bankrupt the Treasury for our children and grandchildren.  Thank you again for taking the time to write to me.  I value your input.  If you haven't done so already, I would like to encourage you to visit my website at www.lummis.house.gov.  There you can sign up to receive my newsletter, and have access to a wealth of other information.  I won't flood your email box, but I will provide you with updates once in a while about activities in Washington that affect our lives in Wyoming.  I hope you will sign up so that we can stay in close touch, and I look forward to seeing you in Wyoming. Sincerely, Lady- Z Cynthia M. Lummis Member of Congress

Why the Hell is Wyoming Coal going to China? So much for energy Independence!

We are at a Moral Crossroads with Coal Exports!

 

Posted: 14 Aug 2011 06:03 AM PDT

 
by Tom Kenworthy and Kate Gordon

In late March, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar traveled to Cheyenne, Wyo., to announce that his department would soon sell leases to 752 million tons of coal from public holdings in the Powder River Basin, and was proceeding on future sales of an additional 1.6 billion tons.

Salazar called coal “a critical component of America’s comprehensive energy portfolio, as well as Wyoming’s economy” and said “it’s important that we continue to encourage safe production of this important resource.” Salazar made no mention of the potential for some of that coal being sold and shipped to Asia. He may have been the only person in Wyoming that day with an interest in energy who wasn’t thinking about coal exports.

Just before Salazar’s visit to Wyoming, the two giant companies that mine about half of the state’s annual coal production, Peabody Energy and Arch Coal, announced deals that could lead to a big jump in the now relatively small business of sending Western U.S. coal to hungry markets in China, Japan, India and other Asian nations. In mid-June, newspapers in the Pacific Northwest reported that two Oregon ports on the Columbia River are also being considered as sites for exporting coal to Asia.

All of that has prompted an escalating battle in the Pacific Northwest over what could be the first U.S. coal export terminals on the West Coast. And, combined with Salazar’s boosterism, it has raised questions about whether the United States is backsliding on the fight against global climate change.

China may be a world leader in developing clean, renewable energy, but it still has a huge appetite for coal and is expected to build 773,000 megawatts of coal-fired electricity between 2007 and 2030. Even with the third largest coal reserves in the world, China is stepping up imports.

That rising demand is whetting the appetite of Wyoming producers. “We’re opening the door to a new era of U.S. exports from the nation’s largest and most productive coal region to the world’s best market for coal,” Peabody Energy Chairman Gregory Boyce said in a statement as his company announced a deal to ship up to 24 million tons of Powder River Basin coal through a proposed terminal near Bellingham, Wash.

Six weeks earlier, Arch Coal bought a 38 percent share of a company that has plans to build a second coal export facility in Longview, Wash.

Environmental and landowner groups from Puget Sound to the plains of eastern Montana are mobilizing to fight the terminals. They cite a menu of potential ill effects: small-town disruptions from the jump in rail traffic involving coal trains more than a mile long moving from Wyoming and Montana to the west coast; health impacts from fugitive coal dust blowing from open rail cars (up to 3 percent of the loads, according to BNSF), threats of coal train spills into the Columbia River.

Then there is the question of enabling China and other Asian nations to pump more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. That, says KC Golden, policy director of the Seattle nonprofit Climate Solutions, is the “moral crossroads” faced by local and state officials in Washington State.

It’s also the moral crossroads that ought to be engaging officials in the other Washington.

– Tom Kenworthy is a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. Kate Gordon is the center’s vice president for energy policy. This piece was first published in the Denver Post.