1.This Act may be cited as the
Fracturing Responsibility and
Awareness of Chemicals Act
or the FRAC
Act
.
2.Regulation of
hydraulic fracturing
(a)Section 1421(d) of
the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300h(d)) is amended by striking
paragraph (1) and inserting the following:
(1)
(A)The term underground injection means the
subsurface emplacement of fluids by well injection.
(B)The
term underground injection includes the underground injection of
fluids or propping agents pursuant to hydraulic fracturing operations relating
to oil or gas production activities.
(C)The
term underground injection does not include the underground
injection of natural gas for the purpose of
storage.
.
(b)Section
1421(b) of the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300h(b)) is amended by adding
at the end the following:
(4)Disclosures of
chemical constituents
(A)A person conducting hydraulic fracturing operations shall
disclose to the State (or to the Administrator, in any case in which the
Administrator has primary enforcement responsibility in a State), by not later
than such deadlines as shall be established by the State (or the
Administrator)—
(i)before the
commencement of any hydraulic fracturing operations at any lease area or a
portion of a lease area, a list of chemicals intended for use in any
underground injection during the operations (including identification of the
chemical constituents of mixtures, Chemical Abstracts Service numbers for each
chemical and constituent, material safety data sheets when available, and the
anticipated volume of each chemical to be used); and
(ii)after the
completion of hydraulic fracturing operations described in clause (i), the list
of chemicals used in each underground injection during the operations
(including identification of the chemical constituents of mixtures, Chemical
Abstracts Service numbers for each chemical and constituent, material safety
data sheets when available, and the volume of each chemical used).
(B)The State (or the Administrator, as applicable)
shall make available to the public the information contained in each disclosure
of chemical constituents under subparagraph (A), including by posting the
information on an appropriate Internet website.
(C)Immediate
disclosure in case of medical emergency
(i)Subject to clause (ii), the regulations promulgated
pursuant to subsection (a) shall require that, in any case in which the State
(or the Administrator, as applicable) or an appropriate treating physician or
nurse determines that a medical emergency exists and the proprietary chemical
formula or specific chemical identity of a trade-secret chemical used in
hydraulic fracturing is necessary for medical treatment, the applicable person
using hydraulic fracturing shall, upon request, immediately disclose to the
State (or the Administrator) or the treating physician or nurse the proprietary
chemical formula or specific chemical identity of a trade-secret chemical,
regardless of the existence of—
(I)a written
statement of need; or
(II)a
confidentiality agreement.
(ii)A
person using hydraulic fracturing that makes a disclosure required under clause
(i) may require the execution of a written statement of need and a
confidentiality agreement as soon as practicable after the determination by the
State (or the Administrator) or the treating physician or nurse under that
clause.
(D)No public
disclosure requiredNothing in subparagraph (A) or (B) authorizes
a State (or the Administrator) to require the public disclosure of any
proprietary chemical
formula.
.