THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA

SENATE BILL

INTRODUCED BY STACK, BOSCOLA, COSTA, GREENLEAF, FARNESE, McILHINNEY AND EARLL, AUGUST 30, 2011

REFERRED TO ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES AND ENERGY, AUGUST 30, 2011  

AN ACT

Amending the act of December 19, 1984 (P.L.1140, No.223),

entitled "An act relating to the development of oil and gas

and coal; imposing duties and powers on the Department of

Environmental Resources; imposing notification requirements

to protect landowners; and providing for definitions, for

various requirements to regulate the drilling and operation

of oil and gas wells, for gas storage reservoirs, for various

reporting requirements, including certain requirements

concerning the operation of coal mines, for well permits, for

well registration, for distance requirements, for well casing

requirements, for safety device requirements, for storage

reservoir obligations, for well bonding requirements, for a

Well Plugging Restricted Revenue Account to enforce oil and

gas well plugging requirements, for the creation of an Oil

and Gas Technical Advisory Board, for oil and gas well

inspections, for enforcement and for penalties," providing

for disclosure of composition of hydraulic fracturing fluids.

The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

hereby enacts as follows:

Section 1.  The act of December 19, 1984 (P.L.1140, No.223),

known as the Oil and Gas Act, is amended by adding a section to

read:

Section 217.  Disclosure of composition of hydraulic fracturing

fluids.

(a)  The department shall establish a rule to:

(1)  require an operator of a well on which a hydraulic

fracturing treatment is performed to:

(i)  complete the form posted on the hydraulic

fracturing chemical registry Internet website of the

Ground Water Protection Council and the Interstate Oil

and Gas Compact Commission with regard to the well;

(ii)  include in the form completed under

subparagraph (i):

(A)  the total volume of water used in the

hydraulic fracturing treatment; and

(B)  each chemical ingredient that is subject to

the requirements of 29 CFR 1910.1200(g)(2) (relating

to hazard communication);

(iii)  post the completed form described by

subparagraph (i) on the Internet website described by

that subparagraph or, if the Internet website is

discontinued or permanently inoperable, post the

completed form on another publicly accessible Internet

website specified by the department;

(iv)  submit the completed form described by

subparagraph (i) to the department; and

(v)  in addition to the completed form specified in

subparagraph (iv), provide to the department a list, to

be made available on a publicly accessible Internet

website, of all other chemical ingredients not listed on

the completed form that were intentionally included and

used for the purpose of creating a hydraulic fracturing

treatment for the well. The department rule shall ensure

that an operator, service company or supplier is not

responsible for disclosing ingredients that:

(A)  were not purposely added to the hydraulic

fracturing treatment;

(B)  occur incidentally or are otherwise

unintentionally present in the treatment; or

(C)  in the case of the operator, are not

disclosed to the operator by a service company or

supplier. The department rule shall not require that

the ingredients be identified based on the additive

in which they are found or that the concentration of

such ingredients be provided;

(2)  require a service company that performs a hydraulic

fracturing treatment on a well or a supplier of an additive

used in a hydraulic fracturing treatment on a well to provide

the operator of the well with the information necessary for

the operator to comply with paragraph (1);

(3)  prescribe a process by which an entity required to

comply with paragraph (1) or (2) may withhold and declare

certain information as a trade secret for purposes of section

708(b)(11) of the act of February 14, 2008 (P.L.6, No.3),

known as the Right-to-Know Law, including the identity and

amount of the chemical ingredient used in a hydraulic

fracturing treatment;

(4)  require a person who desires to challenge a claim of

entitlement to trade secret protection under paragraph (3) to

file the challenge not later than the second anniversary of

the date the completed form specified in paragraph (1)(iv) is

filed with the department;

(5)  limit the persons who may challenge a claim of

entitlement to trade secret protection under paragraph (3)

to:

(i)  the landowner on whose property the relevant

well is located;

(ii)  a landowner who owns property adjacent to

property described by subparagraph (i); or

(iii)  a department or agency of the Commonwealth;

and

(6)  prescribe an efficient process for an entity

described by paragraph (1) or (2) to provide information,

including information that is a trade secret as defined by

Appendix D to 29 CFR 1910.1200, to a health professional or

emergency responder who needs the information in accordance

with subsection (i) of that section.

(b)  This section applies only to a hydraulic fracturing

treatment performed on a well for which an initial drilling

permit is issued on or after the date the initial rules take

effect. A hydraulic fracturing treatment performed on a well for

which an initial drilling permit is issued before the date the

initial rules take effect is governed by the law as it existed

immediately before the effective date of this act, and that law

is continued in effect for that purpose.

(c)  The department shall adopt rules to implement this

section not later than January 1, 2012.

Section 2.  This act shall take effect September 1, 2011.