fracfocus- the national hydraulic fracturing disclosure ...7eee3e7e30c73587771b...for indian lands,...

FracFocus- THE National Hydraulic Fracturing Disclosure Registry

TCEQ Environmental Trade Fair

May 6, 2015

WHY IS HYRAULIC FRACTURING A CONTINUING ISSUE?

•Exploration in formerly non producing areas •Severed mineral vs. surface rights •The process seems mysterious •Trade secret claims •Shortage of accurate public information •Misinformation by the media

Why FracFocus?

• Growth in high volume hydraulic fracturing

• Federal intervention into state issues (FRAC Act)

• Desire by states to provide transparency to the public

PROVIDING TRANSPARENCY! – THIS TAKES AWAY

FEAR OF THE UNKNOWN! AND

– EMPOWERS

PEOPLE!

The best way to counter mis-information is by:

FracFocus • What is it?

– The ONLY nationwide source of hydraulic fracturing chemical, informational and regulatory information.

• What is its purpose? – FracFocus provides transparency through a national Web

site that discloses hydraulic fracturing chemical data and information.

• How did it start – Joint-partnership formed in 2010 between two state’s

organizations: Ground Water Protection Council and Interstate Oil & Gas Compact Commission

What FracFocus does and does not do?

• What FracFocus does. – Provides the ONLY national source for hydraulic fracturing chemical

information authorized by state government agencies – Acts as the means for regulatory reporting in 20 (soon 21) states – Provides landowners with extensive information about the chemicals used in

the hydraulic fracturing of individual wells – Notifies state government regulatory agencies when disclosures are received – Shows locations of disclosures using a Google Maps® style interface

• What FracFocus does not do. – Act as a regulatory program – Act as a well drilling and completion reporting system – Make regulatory decisions regarding reporting parameters or trade secrets

HOW DOES IT WORK?

WWW.FRACFOCUS.ORG

• Two parts –Public side

• General information • Disclosure presentation

–Disclosure submittal side • Operator inputs • Agency outputs

INTERACTIVE INFORMATION

FracFocus Elements • Hydraulic Fracturing:

How it Works • Groundwater

Protection • Find a Well by State • Regulations by State • Chemical Use • Frequent Questions

• This element describes the process of hydraulic fracturing including the history of the practice, what, why and how fracturing is conducted, site development, and fluid management

FracFocus Elements • Hydraulic Fracturing:

How it Works • Groundwater

Protection • Find a Well by State • Regulations by State • Chemical Use • Frequent Questions

• This element talks about groundwater and the methods used to protect it including water usage, well construction, groundwater quality and testing, and the physics of fluid flow in the subsurface

FracFocus Elements • Hydraulic Fracturing:

How it Works • Groundwater

Protection • Find a Well by State • Regulations by State • Chemical Use • Frequent Questions

• This element is a map of the states that contains hot links to the oil and gas regulatory agencies and their regulations governing oil and gas exploration and production. It also includes contact information for the agency.

FracFocus Elements • Hydraulic Fracturing:

How it Works • Groundwater

Protection • Find a Well by State • Regulations by State • Chemical Use • Frequent Questions

• This element provides the user with information about the reasons chemicals are used in hydraulic fracturing, the chemicals most commonly used, and laws regarding public disclosure of chemicals.

FracFocus Elements • Hydraulic Fracturing:

How it Works • Groundwater

Protection • Find a Well by State • Regulations by State • Chemical Use • Frequent Questions

• This element offers answers to the most frequently asked questions concerning hydraulic fracturing. The page also contains an Ask a Question form that can be used to submit questions about the website or hydraulic fracturing.

Additional Features • Publications • Links

• The website has a publications page that allows the user to see reports, studies and publications related to hydraulic fracturing and water. These include reports from the GWPC, USGS, USEPA, IOGCC Universities and others.

Additional Features • Publications • Links

• The links page contains hyperlinks to government websites, technical websites and the websites of the participating companies

FracFocus Elements • Hydraulic Fracturing:

How it Works • Groundwater

Protection • Find a Well by State • Regulations by State • Chemical Use • Frequent Questions

• This element allows the user to locate a well that has been hydraulically fractured and to see a record of the chemicals used in the fracturing process. It provides the user with multiple ways to find a well such as searches by state, county, well name, API number and operator

Disclosure presentation

Disclosure presentation

Click on pdf Icon to open the record

Future Infographics Design

Step 2

Concurrent with drilling, layers of pipe called casing strings are placed in the hole. Each string of casing is cemented into the hole to prevent migration of fluids from one zone to another. Read more…..

Constructing the Well

Each casing string is run to a specific depth to isolate zones from succeeding drilling and completion processes.

Centralizers keep the casing Centered in the hole

Cement between the casing and the hole isolates groundwater

The horizontal leg of a well can extend for several thousand feet

Not to scale

Return to Groundwater Protection: Well Construction & Groundwater Protection

Disclosure Submittal From FracFocus 1.0 to 3.0

• Developed in 4 months • Data entry via Excel spreadsheet • Converted to pdf’s • Only header data (Operator, location TVD

etc…) captured in database • Maintained on individual PC’s • Limited data validation

FracFocus 1.0

• Initially, chemical data entry into the registry by the oil and gas companies was voluntary, but in the first year of operation, several states adopted regulations requiring data on the chemicals used in frac fluids to be disclosed – Many of those states specifically referenced FracFocus

as the mechanism for submitting those data • The number of wells for which chemical

information was entered grew quickly – By the end of 2012, data had been entered on more

than 34,000 wells, representing 342 companies

FracFocus 1.0

FracFocus 2.0 • FracFocus 1.0 was developed to fill an important

gap in public disclosure information – The programming and system design were done in a

way that allowed FracFocus 1.0 to get underway quickly in early 2011

• As the volume of information entered into the system grew, industry, GWPC, and IOGCC realized that a more efficient data management system was needed – This led to the development of FracFocus 2.0 during

2012 and early 2013

2.0 Server Side Data Management • Removed Distributed

Excel File Issues • Centralized Data • Single Standardized

Software Application • Consistent

Disclosure Presentation

• Operator’s Manage and Create Disclosures

• Service Company Uploads to Operators

• Agents Approved to Manage Data

• Agencies Allowed to Review & Request Compliance Information

Created New User Categories

The FracFocus 2.0 Disclosure Submission System

• Service company creates xml and sends to operator via e-mail

• Service company creates xml and uploads directly to operator queue

• Operator or registered agent creates xml using pre-loaded forms

Three ways to generate FracFocus 2.0 files

FracFocus 2.0 Data Entry Forms

E&P Operator: View Disclosure Details Click Edit Disclosure From Pending List: Visibly review entered or uploaded Data, Map of Well Spot, Access Edit Options

FracFocus 2.0 Generated PDF: Example

• State and county auto-filled from API number • Coordinates checked to be within county boundaries • Warnings for

– Invalid CAS #’s – Fluid % not within range – Bad county numbers by state code

• Errors for – Invalid coordinate ranges – No entries in Base water or Base non-water volumes – No entry in TVD – No purpose listed – No supplier listed

FracFocus 2.0 Validation Checks

FracFocus 3.0 1. Independent reviews and suggestions 2. Public input on system functionality 3. FracFocus systems and security audit 4. Secretary of Energy Advisory Board

recommendations

FracFocus 3.0 1. Improvements to the accuracy of well data

disclosed on FracFocus 2. Establishment of a policy for data custody,

management, security, and retention 3. State validation of compliance 4. Upgrades to the website to be a more usable

and interactive database 5. BLM requirements

Improvements to the accuracy of well data disclosed on FracFocus

Six step validation process to improve data quality and accuracy

Data quality – step 1 CAS number validation Require valid CAS# Format

Error: Invalid CAS#

Data quality – Step 2 chemical name suggestion

Data quality – step 3 Trade Secret, Proprietary, CBI -Drop down boxes ensure digital

data is submitted - Contact information is required for any ingredient marked as Trade Secret, Proprietary , CBI …

Data quality: step 4 water volume

Improve the quality of base water volume reporting by issuing a warning if Total Water Volume (gal) exceeds 15 million gallons.

Data quality- step 5 maximum ingredient concentration in HF fluid

-If the sum of ingredient concentration in HF fluid is not within 3% of a 100% a warning is issued.

Data quality - step 6

-Multiple disclosures with same API number & job start/end date -Changing the current error to a warning when attempting to submit multiple disclosures with the same API number and job date. -This is only a warning because it is possible to submit multiple disclosures with the same API number and start/end date

Reducing trade secret claims: The systems approach

Trade Name, Supplier & Purpose

Ingredients with CAS #s

Systems Approach

Establishment of a policy for data custody, management, security, and retention • FracFocus is being updated to comply with

current versions of software • Penetration testing has been preformed and

an extra layer of security has been installed to prevent malicious internet attacks

• Google analytics has been added to help manage the web site and internet traffic

FracFocus amended and original record retention policy

• All records, originals and amended, are permanently stored in the FracFocus database (does not include all FracFocus 1.0 records)

• FracFocus 3.0 has a redundant backup system to ensure that all records are retained

• All current records will be available in digital format for download from FracFocus by May 2015 – Limitations:

• FracFocus 1.0 records have header data only • Records from June 1, 2013 on have chemical data • FracFocus cannot warrant the accuracy of records because we are

not allowed to review and modify records submitted under regulatory requirements

Record retention and amendments

Requiring Operators to fill out a text field explaining the reasoning behind amending a record.

State validation of compliance • Under FracFocus 2.0 states had the ability to

download data to check compliance • FracFocus – RBDMS: automatic sync and

report generation

RBDMS report form to check for chemical filing compliance

RBDMS – chemical disclosure report Disclosure date

HF start/end date

Upgrades to the website to be a more usable and interactive database

• Digital downloading of data • Connections with the National Oil and Gas

Gateway • Additional search capability

New online search capability New features allow searches by

– Date HF job performed – Date chemical disclosure submitted – Google style chemical search capability

Search Features Under Development

Additional search criteria 1. Ingredient: purpose, supplier, trade

name… 2. Advanced GIS and/or map based

searches

BLM Requirements The Bureau of Land Management would like to be able to differentiate between wells on federal and Indian lands. FracFocus will be adding an additional checkboxes for compliance with the BLM rule. Additional XML element(s) will also be added to account for this change. If users select the Federal or Indian well’s checkbox an additional popup box will be displayed requiring the user to certify compliance with BLM requirements.

BLM Certification • Per the Final Hydraulic Fracturing Rule on Federal and Indian Lands (FR Vol. XX, No.

XXX / XXXday, March XX, 2015), §3162.3-3 (i) (8) the operator must certify that: • i. The operator complied with the requirements in §3162.3-3, paragraphs (b),

(e), (f), (g), and (h) of the section; • • ii. For Federal lands, the hydraulic fracturing fluid constituents, once they

arrived on the lease, complied with all applicable permitting and notice requirements as well as all applicable Federal, State, and local laws, rules, and regulations; and

• • iii. For Indian lands, the hydraulic fracturing fluid constituents, once they arrived

on the lease, complied with all applicable permitting and notice requirements as well as all applicable Federal and tribal laws, rules, and regulations.

Company Growth By Month

37

1182

869

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

Participating Companies

Reporting Companies

Disclosures Reported By Period

1135

95,229

0

10000

20000

30000

40000

50000

60000

70000

80000

90000

100000 Da

te

4/25

/11

5/23

/11

6/27

/11

7/25

/11

8/22

/11

9/26

/11

10/1

7/11

11/2

8/11

12/2

5/11

1/19

/12

2/21

/12

3/28

/12

4/30

/12

5/24

/12

7/5/

12

7/27

/12

8/27

/12

9/17

/12

11/5

/12

11/2

0/12

12/2

1/12

2/4/

13

2/27

/13

3/29

/13

4/19

/13

5/17

/13

6/12

/13

7/24

/13

8/22

/13

10/2

1/13

1/2/

14

2/7/

14

3/18

/14

5/6/

14

7/21

/14

10/3

1/14

1/12

/15

3/16

/15

Disclosures Reported By State*

125 76 2564 2187 9034

1 549 592 1,568 18 66 517 3 4 2,567

7,044 905 7148 5045

44574 3486 123 1006 3011

1 10 100 1000 10000 100000

State Alabama

Alaska Arizona

Arkansas California Colorado

Florida Idaho

Illinois Indiana Kansas

Kentucky Louisiana Michigan

Mississippi Missouri

Montana Nebraska

Nevada New Mexico

New York North Carolina

North Dakota Ohio

Oklahoma Oregon

Pennsylvania South Dakota

Tennessee Texas Utah

Virginia West Virginia

Wyoming

*Total disclosures does not equal total wells due to wells with multiple disclosures.

24 States

States Using FracFocus Montana North Dakota South Dakota Colorado Utah Oklahoma Texas Louisiana Mississippi Ohio Pennsylvania Alaska West Virginia Kansas Alabama Nebraska Tennessee Nevada North Carolina Kentucky (7/2015) California (Until 2016)

States Considering FracFocus Florida Virginia Michigan Idaho New York Illinois

MIKE NICKOLAUS, GWPC MNICKOLAUS@GWPC.ORG

Ground Water Protection Council