Texas Administrative Code › Title 16 - ECONOMIC REGULATION › Part 1 - RAILROAD COMMISSION OF TEXAS › Chapter 3 - OIL AND GAS DIVISION › Section 3.29 - Hydraulic Fracturing Chemical Disclosure Requirements

Current through Reg. 49, No. 28; July 12, 2024
(a) Definitions. The following words and
				terms when used in this section shall have the following meanings, unless the
				context clearly indicates otherwise.
(1)
				Accredited laboratory--A laboratory as defined in Texas Water Code, §
										RSA 5.801.
(2) Additive--Any chemical substance or
				combination of substances, including a proppant, contained in a hydraulic
				fracturing fluid that is intentionally added to a base fluid for a specific
				purpose whether or not the purpose of any such substance or combination of
				substances is to create fractures in a formation.
(3) Adjacent property--A tract of property
				next to the tract of property on which the subject wellhead is located,
				including a tract that meets only at a corner point.
(4) API number--A unique, permanent, numeric
				identifier assigned to each well drilled for oil or gas in the United
				States.
(5) Base fluid--The
				continuous phase fluid type, such as water, used in a particular hydraulic
				fracturing treatment.
(6) Chemical
				Abstracts Service--The division of the American Chemical Society that is the
				globally recognized authority for information on chemical substances.
(7) Chemical Abstracts Service number or CAS
				number--The unique identification number assigned to a chemical by the Chemical
				Abstracts Service.
(8) Chemical
				Disclosure Registry--The chemical registry website known as FracFocus developed
				by the Ground Water Protection Council and the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact
				Commission.
(9) Chemical family--A
				group of chemical ingredients that share similar chemical properties and have a
				common general name.
(10) Chemical
				ingredient--A discrete chemical constituent with its own specific name or
				identity, such as a CAS number, that is contained in an additive.
(11) Commission--The Railroad Commission of
				Texas.
(12) Delegate--The person
				authorized by the director to take action on behalf of the Railroad Commission
				of Texas under this section.
(13)
				Director--The director of the Oil and Gas Division of the Railroad Commission
				of Texas or the director's delegate.
(14) Health professional or emergency
				responder--A physician, physician's assistant, industrial hygienist,
				toxicologist, epidemiologist, nurse, nurse practitioner, or emergency responder
				who needs information in order to provide medical or other health services to a
				person exposed to a chemical ingredient.
(15) Hydraulic fracturing fluid--The fluid,
				including the applicable base fluid and all additives, used to perform a
				particular hydraulic fracturing treatment.
(16) Hydraulic fracturing treatment--The
				treatment of a well by the application of hydraulic fracturing fluid under
				pressure for the express purpose of initiating or propagating fractures in a
				target geologic formation to enhance production of oil and/or natural
				gas.
(17) Landowner--The person
				listed on the applicable county appraisal roll as owning the real property on
				which the relevant wellhead is located.
(18) Operator--An operator as defined in
				Texas Natural Resources Code, Chapter 89.
(19) Person--Natural person, corporation,
				organization, government or governmental subdivision or agency, business trust,
				estate, trust, partnership, association, or any other legal entity.
(20) Proppant--Sand or any natural or
				man-made material that is used in a hydraulic fracturing treatment to prop open
				the artificially created or enhanced fractures once the treatment is
				completed.
(21) Requestor--A person
				who is eligible to request information claimed to be entitled to trade secret
				protection in accordance with Texas Natural Resources Code, §
										RSA
				91.851<subdiv>(a)(5)</subdiv>.
(22) Service company--A person that performs
				hydraulic fracturing treatments on a well in this state.
(23) Supplier--A company that sells or
				provides an additive for use in a hydraulic fracturing treatment.
(24) Total water volume--The total amount of
				water in gallons used as the carrier fluid for the hydraulic fracturing job. It
				may include recycled water and newly acquired water.
(25) Trade name--The name given to an
				additive or a hydraulic fracturing fluid system under which that additive or
				hydraulic fracturing fluid system is sold or marketed.
(26) Trade secret--Any formula, pattern,
				device, or compilation of information that is used in a person's business, and
				that gives the person an opportunity to obtain an advantage over competitors
				who do not know or use it. The six factors considered in determining whether
				information qualifies as a trade secret, in accordance with the definition of
				"trade secret" in the Restatement of Torts, Comment B to Section 757 (1939), as
				adopted by the Texas Supreme Court in
Hyde Corp. v. Huffines,
314 S.W.2d 763, 776 (Tex.1958), include:
(A)
				the extent to which the information is known outside of the company;
(B) the extent to which it is known by
				employees and others involved in the company's business;
(C) the extent of measures taken by the
				company to guard the secrecy of the information;
(D) the value of the information to the
				company and its competitors;
(E)
				the amount of effort or money expended by the company in developing the
				information; and
(F) the ease or
				difficulty with which the information could be properly acquired or duplicated
				by others.
(27) Well--A
				well as defined in Texas Natural Resources Code, Chapter 89.
(28) Well completion report--The report an
				operator is required to file with the Commission following the completion or
				recompletion of a well, if applicable, in accordance with §
										RSA
				3.16<subdiv>(b)</subdiv> of this
				title (relating to Log and Completion or Plugging Report.)