Does New Interior Draft Put Fracking Data Under Industry Thumb?

It's not official. Yet. But hopes that the Interior Department would model transparency for fracking fluid ingredients on leased BLM lands seem to be fading. BLM in January 2013 said it would withdraw the rule on which fracking disclosure fans had placed much hope. Soon after a leaked draft of the replacement rule suggested Interior would leave handling of fracking data to the industry-run "FracFocus" project.

FracFocus has come under criticism by environmental and watchdog groups for being hard to use and incomplete.

FracFocus is not the only third-party effort to give the public data about fracking. One example is a database run by SkyTruth and another is the citizen-run FracTracker Alliance in Ohio.

• "Revised Interior Rule Loops in Industry-Favored FracFocus," EnergyWire, February 8, 2013, by Mike Soraghan and Ellen M. Gilmer.
• "Leaked Draft Indicates BLM May Give the Fracking Industry Free Reign To Keep Secrets," Switchboard blog (Natural Resources Defense Council), February 11, 2013, by Matthew McFeeley.
• "BLM To Pull Back Proposed Fracking Rule, Will Issue Revised Version in First Quarter," Daily Environment Report (Bloomberg BNA), January 22, 2013, by Alan Kovski and Tripp Baltz.
• "It Helps To Be Irritating," Goat Blog, High Country News, February 12, 2013, by Sarah Gilman.
• FracFocus Chemical Disclosure Registry.
• "FracTracker Alliance Working To Provide Drilling Information to Ohio Residents," Akron Beacon Journal, February 11, 2013, by Bob Downing.
• "FracFocus Can't Replace Full, Public Disclosure, Groups Say," EnergyWire, May 21, 2012, by Mike Soraghan.
• "Bloomberg Finds Holes in FracFocus’ Database," StateImpact Pennsylvania (NPR), August 14, 2012, by Scott Detrow.
• "Legal Loophole Keeps Fracturing Mixes Murky," FuelFix (Houston Chronicle), February 3, 2013, by Jennifer Hiller.
• Editorial: "Skepticism, Please, On 'Trade Secrets'," San Antonio Express-News, February 8, 2013.
• Previous Stories: SEJ WatchDogs of November 28, 2012 and January 30, 2013.

This is one of the stories in the February 13, 2013 issue of SEJ's biweekly WatchDog. Find the rest of the stories and past issues here.