"Opponents to Fracking Disclosure Take Big Money From Industry"

"Congress isn't going to regulate hydraulic fracturing any time soon. But the Department of Interior might. For starters, Interior is mulling whether it should require drilling companies to disclose the chemicals they use to frack wells drilled on public lands, and already the suggestion has earned Interior Secretary Ken Salazar an earful.

On January 5, a bipartisan group of 32 members of Congress, who belong to the Natural Gas Caucus, sent Salazar a letter imploring him to resist a hasty decision because more regulations would "increase energy costs for consumers, suppress job creation in a promising energy sector, and hinder our nation's ability to become more energy independent."

A week later, 46 House Democrats followed up by signing a letter to Salazar urging him to at least adopt the disclosure requirement because, as Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., said, "communities across America have seen their water contaminated by the chemicals used in the hydraulic fracturing process." ...

A back-of-the-envelope analysis of campaign finance dollars contributed to the members of Congress who are speaking out on the issue shows that the Natural Gas Caucus received 19 times more money from the oil and gas industry between 2009 and 2010 than the group who signed Rep. Hinchey's letter."

Abrahm Lustgarten reports for ProPublica, Jan. 14, 2011.