FRED UPTDN , MICHIGAN CHAIRMAN HEN RY A . WAXMAN , CA LlF DRN IA RANK ING MEMBER ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS (!Congress of tbe mtniteb $tates 1!;lOlU)C of l\cprcscntatiucs COMM ITIEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE 2125 R AYBURN H DUSE O FFICE B UILDING W AS HINGTDN, DC 20515- 6115 Majority (2021225- 2927 Minority (202) 225-364 1 OctDber 25,20 11 The HDnDrable Lisa JacksDn Administrator U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Ariel RiDS Building 1200 Pelmsy lvan ia Avenue, N.W. Washington , DC 20460 Dear Administrator JacksDn: The House CDmmittee on Energy and Commerce DemDcrats have been investigating the practice Dfhyd raulic fracturin g and its potential impact on drinking water and the environment. In January of this year, we wrote tD YDU to share SDme DfDur initial findings regarding the use Df diesel fuel in hydraulic fracturing fluid s. We repo rted that oil and gas service companies had injected mDre than 32 milliDn gall ons Df diesel fuel Dr hydraulic fracturing fluids cDntaining diesel fuel in 19 states between 2005 and 2009. TDday we are writing to update thi s infDrmati on based on new documents provided to the CDmmittee. Two companies - Frac Tech and WeatherfDrd - have infDrmed the CDmmittee that they inadvertentl y provided inaccu rate data in response to the Committee's request for informati on on the type and vo lume of products used in hydraulic fracturing between 2005 and 2009. As a result of these errors, o ur Driginal analysis on the use Df di ese l fuel in hydraulic fracturing underestimated the true extent of use by more than 500,000 gall ons. The companies' errors, described below, demDnstrate the di fficulty in obtaining accurate infDrmation abDut the cDntents Df hydraulic fracturing fluid s and reinforce the need fDr mandatory and uniform natiDnal di sclDsure Dfthis informatiDn tD EPA. On August 22, 20 II , Frac Tech infDrmed the Co mmittee that it used almost 2.4 million gallons Df a product that cDntains at least 20% diesel fuel. Frac Tech previously had told the CDmmittee that it did nDt use thi s product between 2005 and 2009. Counsel for the company explained that a discrepancy in the cDmpany 's record-keeping had caused this problem. As a result, the Committee ' s original letter to you understated Frac Tech 's use Dfproducts cDntaining diesel fuel. The Honorabl e Li sa Jackson October 25, 20 II Page 2 Simil a rl y, on February 25, 20 II , Weatherford to ld the Committee that it had provided a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) to the Committee tha t incorrectl y li sted di esel fue l as one of the prod uct's components. Weatherford informed the Committee that the prod uct does no t contain di esel; rather, it co ntains a non-di esel petro leum d istill ate. As a result of thi s error, the informa ti on o ri g inall y provided to the Committee by Weatherford 's overstated the company' s use of prod ucts containing di ese l by nearl y 1.9 milli on gallons. We are provid ing you w ith a n updated analysis regarding the use of d iese l fuel in hydraulic fracturing that reflects these corrections. T he new findin gs indi cate a hi gher use of d iese l fue l than our original ana lys is. Spec ifica ll y, between 2005 and 2009, o il and gas service compani es inj ec ted 32 .7 millio n ga ll ons of diese l fuel or hydraulic frac turing fluid s co ntaining diesel fu el in we ll s in 20 states. The Committee's Investigation On February 18, 20 I 0, Chai rman Waxman and Subco mmittee C hairman Markey a nnounced that the Commit1ee wou ld examine the practice of hydrauli c frac turing and it s potenti al impact on water quality ac ross the United States. The Co mmittee sent letters to 14 o il and gas service co mpani es e ngaged in hydraulic fracturing in the United States regardin g the type and vo lume of chemi ca ls they used in hydra ulic frac turing Ilu ids between 2005 and 2009. 1 T hese compan ies vo luntaril y provided the Co mm ittee with data o n the vo lu me of diese l 2 fuel a nd o ther hydra ulic fracturing fluid s they used during the fi ve year pe riod For each hydra ulic fracturing fluid , the companies pro vided the Committee w ith a MSDS detailing the fluid ' s chemi ca l co mpone nts. If the MSDS for a particular produ ct listed a che mical component as proprie tary, we asked the compa ny that used that prod uct to pro vide us with the proprieta ry informati on. Us ing thi s informatio n, o ur staff calculated how much diesel fuel and fracturi ng fl uids containing diese l fuel these 14 companies used between 2005 a nd 2009 3 I The COlllllliHee sent letters to Basic Energy Serv ices, 8J Services, Calfrac Well Services, Complete Producti on Services, Frac Tech Services, Halliburton, Key Energy Services, RP e , Sanje l Corporation, Schlumbcrger. Superi or \Vell Services. Trican \Vell Service, Uni versal Well Services, and \Veat herford . The 14 lett ers, SC ill 0 11 February 18 and May 6, 2010, arc availab le on the COlllll1 inee's website. 2 8J Services, Ha lliburton, and Sc hluillberger already had provided Chairman Waxman and the Oversight COlllmittee with data ror 2005 through 2007 . For BJ Services, th e 2005-2007 data is limited 10 natural gas we lls, For Schlllll1berger, the 2005-2007 data is limited to coa lbed methane we lls, 3 Th e Committ ee rev iewed all MSDSs produced to the Committee and included th e rol1ow ing in th e category or "diesel" : diese l fuel, prod ucts with components with the Chcmica l Abstracts Service (CAS) registry numbcr of 68476-34-6, 684 76-30-2, or 68334-30-5 , and products with "diese l" named as a componellt but lackin g a CAS number. The Honorable Li sa Jackson Oc tober 25, 20 I I Page 3 Usc of Diesel Fuel in Hydraulic Fracturing Our findings based on these new documents continue to raise serious concerns. Between 2005 and 2009 , 12 of the 14 compan ies used 32.7 milli on ga llons of diese l fuel or fluid s containing di ese l fuel. 4 BJ Services used the most di ese l fue l and fluid s containing diesel , more than 11 .5 millio n ga llons, followed by Halliburton, which used 7.2 milli on ga ll ons. Four other compan ies, RPC (4.3 million ga llo ns), Sanje! (3.6 million ga llons), Frac Tech (2.6 million gallons), and Key Energy Services ( 1.6 milli on ga llons), used more than one million ga llons of diese l fuel and fluid s containin g diesel. These 12 compani es inj ected these diesel-contai ning fluid s in 20 states. Diese lconta ining fluid s were used most frequently in Texas, which accounted fo r mo re than hal f or th e total vo lume injected, 16.7 milli on ga ll ons. The companies injected at least one million gall ons of diesel-containin g fluid s in Ok lahoma (3 .2 million ga ll ons), No rth Dakota (3. 1 million gall ons), Wyoming (2.9 milli on ga llons), Loui siana (2.9 milli on ga ll ons), and Co lo rado (1.3 million gallons). Diesel fuel was a significant component of the diesel-containing fluid s these companies injected. The compan ies used 10.3 milli on ga ll ons of straight diesel fue l and an additional 20 million gall ons of products contai nin g at least 30% diesel fucl. Tables I and 2, whi ch are attac hed to this leller, list the compani es that reported using di ese l-containing fluid s and the states in which they inj ec ted them. Conclus ion This new inform ati on indicates that the use of diesel fuel in hydraulic frac turing may be even hi gher than expected based on our o ri ginal estimates. The compan ies ' report in g erro rs also re in force the need for mandatory and uniform national di sclosure of the content s and use of hydraulic fracturing fluid s. We look forward to the complet ion of yo ur hydraulic fracturing stud y and urge yo u to consider appropri ate regul ati ons, as well as permitting guidance, for hydraulic fractu ring fluid s that contai n diese l fue ls . .j Ca lli'ac \Vell Service s and Uni versal We ll Services did use an y fracturing fluid s contain ing diesel during thi s tim e period . The Honorabl e Lisa Jackson October 25, 20 II Page 4 Sincerely, Henry A. Waxman Ranking Member Committee on Energy and Commerce ~Cf~ ~&k~ Ranking Member Committee on Natural Resources Diana DeGette Ranking Member Subcommit1ee on Oversight and Investigations cc: The Honorable Fred Upton Chairman The Honorable Cli ff Stearns Chairman Subcommittee on Oversight and In vestigations The Honorab le Lisa Jackson October 25, 20 II Page 5 Attachment Table 1. Inj ection of Hydraulic Fracturing Fluid s Co ntainin g Diesel Fuel: By Co mpany (2005-2009) Vo lum e (gallons) 204,013 I 1,555,538 4,625 2,558,790 7,207 ,2 16 1,641,2 13 4,3 14, 110 3,64 1,270 443 ,689 833 ,431 92 ,537 228 ,388 32,724,820 Co mpany Basic Energy Serv ices BJ Services Complete Frac Tech Halliburton Key Energy Services RPC Sani e l Schlumberger Superio r Trican Weatherford Total Table 20 Injection of Hydra ulic F,oacturing Fluids Co ntaining Diesel Fuel: By State (2005-2009) Vo lume State ("allons) AK 39,375 AL 2,464 AR 5 16,555 26 ,38 1 CA CO 1,32 1,275 FL 377 KS 50,489 KY 2 12 LA 2,92 2,43 2 MI 8,007 MS 221 ,044 Vo lume (ga llon s) 662 ,946 3, 138,950 574,979 3,208,391 32,783 16,703 ,762 330,084 8,754 2,955 ,560 32,724,820 State MT NO NM OK PA TX UT WV WY Total