NEW PSR REPORT: Oil and Gas Companies Withheld Fracking Chemical Identities from Public in More than 12,000 Colorado Wells over Past Decade; Interactive Map Shows Locations
PSR is proud to release the latest in our series of reports on the use of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in oil and gas wells. Fracking with “Forever Chemicals” in Colorado analyzes industry data to document that companies have used PFAS (and/or substances that could degrade into PFAS) in drilling and fracking for oil and gas.
Just as importantly, state non-disclosure laws may obscure even wider use of these and other dangerous chemicals. Colorado law allows oil and gas companies to avoid disclosing what chemicals they use by designating them “trade secrets.”
PFAS are toxic and manmade. They are called “forever chemicals” because they are so slow to break down in the environment and in the body.
PSR’s findings in Colorado build on a report PSR published in July 2021 which reported that oil and gas companies fracked more than 1,200 oil and gas wells in Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Texas, and Wyoming with PFAS or chemicals that could degrade into PFAS.
On Wednesday, February 2, 2022 at 2 pm Mountain Time, Physicians for Social Responsibility will host a webinar (watch the recording below) where report findings will be presented. Speakers will be:
Dusty Horwitt, author, researcher and attorney. Horwitt, now consulting for PSR, has researched chemical use in the oil and gas industry for over a decade. His reports and investigations have received media coverage in the New York Times, Dallas Morning News, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Charleston Gazette, and ProPublica.
Sonya Lunder, Senior Toxics Policy Advisor, Sierra Club, based in Boulder, Colorado
Representatives of the press will have the opportunity to direct questions to the speakers.
READ the press release from PSR National here.
Download Fracking with “Forever Chemicals” in Colorado here.
View an interactive map of wells in Colorado where PFAS have been used here.
