"Environmentalists have mounted a legal challenge against Wyoming regulators they say are improperly approving oil and gas companies’ 'overly broad,' boilerplate requests to shield information about the chemicals they use in drilling operations."
"The critics, led by Earthjustice, filed a lawsuit late Friday asking a Wyoming district court to force regulators to reconsider roughly 50 trade secret exemptions it granted to companies using hydraulic fracturing techniques to extract oil and gas in the state. The process involves shooting mixtures of water, sand and chemicals deep underground to break up shale rock formations and extract oil and natural gas.
Under landmark, two-year-old regulations, the state requires well operators to disclose the identities of chemicals they use in the process. But the measure allows trade secret exemptions meant to protect companies from being forced to reveal proprietary information, and the environmental critics say the state has been too eager to approve them."
Jennifer A. Dlouhy reports for FuelFix March 26, 2012.
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"Environmentalists Sue Over Fracking Fluid" (AP)
