"Researchers say unidentified additives may have included “forever chemicals” linked to serious health problems."
"Oil and gas producers in Pennsylvania used some 160 million pounds of chemicals that they are not required by law to publicly identify in more than 5,000 gas wells between 2012 and 2022, according to research published on Tuesday.
The chemicals may have included per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a toxic and pervasive class of chemicals, according to the report from Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR), an activist group that last week co-published a new compilation of studies on the harms of hydraulic fracturing for oil and gas.
The industry is required to disclose the chemicals to state regulators in the database FracFocus. But operators are allowed by state law to keep from publicly disclosing them if doing so would put their operations at a competitive disadvantage.
Although the FracFocus data does not identify which substances were among the 160 million pounds of chemicals, the new report says that at least one kind of PFAS was used by two oil and gas operators in eight Pennsylvania wells during the study period—information that was first reported by PSR in 2021."
Jon Hurdle reports for Inside Climate News October 24, 2023.
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