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AOGCC proposes regulations on fracking Alaska drilling regulators look to tweak rules on hydraulic fracturing, a common technique that’s generated public controversy Wesley Loy For Petroleum News
Cathy Foerster, head of the state commission that regulates oil and gas drilling in Alaska, says her agency has been getting calls from people saying, “You’re not going to let fracturing come here, are you?”
In fact, the state has a 30-year history of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in its oil and gas fields.
About 25 percent of Alaska’s wells have been fracked, Forester said.
“Not many people know that,” she said.
Across the country, fracking has become a household word as the industry uses the technique in combination with horizontal drilling technology to produce new supplies of oil and natural gas.
The public’s fracking consciousness has generated major opposition from some who feel it poses a contamination threat to fresh water supplies.
With the opposition has come efforts to ban, or at least more stringently regulate, hydraulic fracturing.
Foerster said the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, which she chairs, already has adequate regulations in place to ensure safe, clean drilling.
But it never hurts to review regulations in light of public interest as intense as that surrounding fracking, she said.
And so, the AOGCC is taking a look, and proposing some changes.
Hearing set The agency has scheduled a public hearing from 9 a.m. to noon April 4 on a slate of proposed changes with respect to hydraulic fracturing.
The changes aren’t major, Foerster said. More like tweaks.
One of the most significant steps is putting a section actually titled “Hydraulic Fracturing” into the regulations. This will make it much easier for the general public to find the rules on fracking, Foerster said.
Among the new regulations proposed is sampling of water wells. This would require oil and gas operators to conduct water sampling before and after fracking to provide baseline data.
The proposed regulation package also requires operators to disclose the chemical makeup of hydraulic fracturing fluids; notify landowners within a quarter-mile of the wellbore trajectory; and disclose intent to frack a well on applications for drilling permits.
Shaping final product Hydraulic fracturing involves pumping water and certain additives underground to break, or fracture, rock formations. This creates pathways for oil and gas to flow into the well and up to the surface.
Alaska’s regulations already contain provisions to, for example, ensure the proper casing of oil and gas wells and avoid pollution of freshwater aquifers.
But the three-member commission will be listening intently to people offering testimony and ideas at the upcoming hearing, she said.
Most likely, the final regulations will look somewhat different from the proposed regulations, she said.
The proposed regs are posted online at doa.alaska.gov/ogc.
The AOGCC also is planning to hold another hearing on proposed regulatory changes with regard to wireline operations. Generally, wireline operations involve downhole work that can be performed without a drilling rig or coiled-tubing unit.
The wireline hearing is set for 9 a.m. April 18. These proposed regulatory amendments also are available on the AOGCC website.
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