FRAC Act of 2019

Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Act or the FRAC Act

This bill revises requirements governing hydraulic fracturing operations under the Safe Drinking Water Act. Hydraulic fracturing or fracking is a process to extract underground resources such as oil or gas from a geologic formation by injecting water, a propping agent (e.g., sand), and chemical additives into a well under enough pressure to fracture the geological formation.

The bill repeals the exemption for such operations relating to oil and natural gas production activities under the act.

The bill allows the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to prescribe regulations that authorize a state to seek primary enforcement responsibility for hydraulic fracturing operations for oil and natural gas without seeking to assume primary enforcement responsibility for other types of underground injection control wells.

The bill requires public disclosure of the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing operations. The chemicals intended for use in underground injections must be disclosed before the operations commence. The chemicals actually used must be disclosed the end of the operations.

In the event that the proprietary chemical formula of a chemical used in such hydraulic fracturing is necessary for medical diagnosis, treatment, or emergency response, hydraulic fracturing operations must disclose the formula or the specific chemical identity of a trade secret chemical to the state, the EPA, a first responder, or a health care practitioner upon request, regardless of the existence of a written statement of need or a confidentiality agreement.