The Rio Arriba County Gas and Oil Ordinance would include a stipulation the prohibits drilling companies from using controversial “fracking” chemicals.
Fracking involves injecting water, sand and a secret mixture of petrochemicals underground to fracture rocks and release natural gas to wellheads. Companies marketing and using fracking chemicals have refused to disclose what’s in them, citing proprietary patent rights.
The County’s draft ordinance states that only fresh water and sand may be used in fracking operations.
Concerns about fracking chemicals were sparked in part by 2008 news media accounts from Sublette County, Wyoming, an area where toxic fracking fluids were used in thousands of natural gas wells.
A 1994 study by the federal Environmental Protection Agency had concluded that fracking poses no threat to water quality. As a result, most natural gas wells are now drilled with the aid of fracking chemicals, according to the Agency.
But in November last year, journalists at Propublica and the Denver Post discovered that Sublette County’s groundwater contained levels of benzene — a chemical linked to deadly blood disorders like leukemia and aplastic anemia — that were up to 1,500 times higher than levels deemed safe by the federal government.
Citing such concerns, County Manager Lorenzo Valdez advocated strict prohibitions of the use of fracking chemicals in the proposed ordinance, he said.
Rio Arriba County’s draft ordinance would prohibit:
• the presence of hydrocarbons or other toxic contaminants in fracking fluids;
• the use of synthetic fracturing fluids;
• fracturing with brine;
• leaving any fluids used in fracking operations in the oil or gas well; and
• water pollution before, during, and after the fracturing process.