House Bill 2615 which creates the Illinois Hydraulic Fracturing Regulatory Act has provisions requiring permits for hydraulic fracturing and the disclosure of fracking fluids.
- High volume hydraulic fracturing operations require a permit. The permit application must contain detailed well and operations information, including:
- A detailed description of the proposed well to be fracked, including total depth, proposed angle and direction, the approximate depth at which well deviates from vertical, angle and direction non-vertical portion of the wellbore, and estimated length and direction of proposed horizontal lateral or wellbore.
- Estimated depth and elevation of the lowest potential fresh water along the entire length of the proposed wellbore.
- A detailed description of the proposed high volume hydraulic fracturing operations, including the formation affected by the operation, the anticipated surface treating pressure range, the maximum anticipated injection treating pressure, the estimated fracture pressure of the producing and confining zones, and the planned depth of all proposed perforations or depth to the top of the open hole section.
- A chemical disclosure report identifying each chemical and proppant anticipated to be used in the fracking fluid for each stage of the fracturing operation, including the anticipated total volume of water, fracturing additives to be used, each chemical to be intentionally added to the base fluid, and percent concentration of each chemical added. Trade secrets can be protected with appropriate information provided to the Department of Natural Resources.
- A plan for handling, storage, transportation, and disposal or reuse of hydraulic fracturing fluids and hydraulic fracturing flowback.
- Within 60 days after concluding hydraulic fracturing operations, the operator must file a high volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing operations completion report which requires the following information:
- The total water volume used and the type and total volume of base fluid used.
- The quantity of hydraulic fracturing flowback recovered from the well and a description of its disposal or re-use.
- A chemical disclosure report identifying each chemical and proppant used in the fracturing fluid for each stage of the hydraulic fracturing process. Trade secrets can be protected if the party seeking protection presents:
- Redacted and unredacted copies of documents that contain the chemical disclosure information.
- A justification of the claim containing a detailed description of how the information has been protected, identification of persons to whom the information has been disclosed, a certification that the information has not been published, an explanation of why the information is of competitive value, and any other information supporting the claim.
House Bill 3086 and Senate Bill 1418 would amend the Illinois Oil and Gas Act to create the Hydraulic Fracturing Task Force to gather information, evaluate and make recommendations for the regulation of hydraulic fracturing in Illinois. Until the Task Force provides its findings, all high volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing operations are banned.
Senate Bill 3280 would amend the Illinois Oil and Gas Act to require well integrity tests before hydraulic fracturing, disclosure of fracking fluids (except for trade secrets), and re-use or disposal of flowback at an appropriate disposal facility. Operators of hydraulically fracked wells would be required to disclose all chemicals used on the FracFocus website. A service company that performed the hydraulic fracturing or a supplier of any additive used in the fracking fluid must provide to the operator the information needed for the operator to respond to the FracFocus.org website. Trade secret information may be withheld.
This article was prepared by Barclay Nicholson (bnicholson@fulbright.com or 713 651 3662) from Fulbright's Energy Practice Group.
