Drillers sometimes take the posture that they have little or no control over what chemicals are used by the companies with whom they contract for hydraulic fracturing. Not so.
And so it is good to see that Cabot is prohibiting those companies with whom it contracts to use BTEX chemicals and diesel in the fracking fluids used at Cabot gas wells. http://www.cabotog.com/pdfs/Frackingfluidpolicy.pdf.
Cabot's new policy responds to a shareholder resolution that was withdrawn after Cabot made its announcement concerning BTEX chemicals and diesel. This exercise shows once again that shareholders do have the ability to affect, for better or worse, the operations of the companies in which they invest. Congratulations to Cabot and its shareholders for taking this step.
If the drillers and contractors were actually using diesal based products for hydraulic fracturing, I believe this would meet the need for an EPA Permit under the UIC program?
ReplyDeletehttp://water.epa.gov/type/groundwater/uic/class2/hydraulicfracturing/upload/hfdieselfuelsguidance508.pdf