RSS Feeds  Judge sides with Wyoming in fracking chemical suit
Sunday - 3/31/2013, 12:46am  ET  Associated Press  CHEYENNE,
Wyo. (AP) -- A judge in Casper has sided with the state of
Wyoming and ruled against environmentalists who sought to make
public the lists of ingredients that go into hydraulic
fracturing fluids.  Environmental groups had requested the
ingredient lists from the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation
Commission, arguing that the public needs to know what chemicals
companies are putting underground.  Natrona County District
Judge Catherine Wilking has ruled that Wyoming's state oil and
gas supervisor was correct to withhold the ingredient lists as
protected trade secrets.  Specially formulated lubricants are
used in fracking, which involves pumping water, sand and
fracking fluids underground to split open oil- and gas-bearing
rocks.  Attorneys for Wyoming and oilfield services company
Halliburton argued that public disclosure could allow competing
companies to reverse-engineer fracking fluids.