Increases in trade secret designations in hydraulic fracturing fluids and their potential implications for environmental health and water quality.

ABSTRACT: Hydraulic fracturing is an increasingly common method of oil and gas extraction across the United States. Many of the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing processes have been proven detrimental to human and environmental health. While disclosure frameworks have advanced significantly in the last 20 years, the practice of withholding chemical identities as "trade secrets" or "proprietary claims" continues to represent a major absence in the data available on hydraulic fracturing. Here, we analyze rates of trade secret claims using FracFocus, a nationwide database of hydraulic fracturing data, from January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2022. We use the open-source tool Open-FF, which collates FracFocus data, makes it accessible for systematic analysis, and performs several quality-control measur

SUBMITTER: Underhill V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10872473 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature