Since its inception, FracFocus has been lauded across the country for its handling of important information, innovative approach to transparency and its ease of use. Heather Zichal, Deputy Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change, speaking on behalf of the Obama Administration, endorsed FracFocus earlier this year saying:“ an important tool that provides transparency to the American people.”
For those looking for more substantial metric to judge FracFocus’ success, take a look at these facts:

  • In only two years more than 30,000 register wells have been registered on FracFocus.
  • 231 different operators have participated in program across the country.
  • To date, over 145,000 individuals have viewed the site with many returning regularly thereafter
  • Eight different states have elected to use FracFocus for regulator reporting, a purpose not originally intended for the registry. These states include Mississippi, Montana, Oklahoma, Texas, Pennsylvania, North Dakota, Colorado and Louisiana.
  • The United States government is even considering designating FracFocus as an official disclosure mechanism for any development on public land.

FracFocus’s primary purpose is to provide factually information concerning hydraulic fracturing and groundwater protection. The information contained in the database is the same information reported to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection; just the way in which it’s presented is different.
Nicole Jacobs, of Energy in Depth’s Northeast Marcellus Initiative, examined some of the information provided to FracFocus to see if participants were disclosing enough information. Here is an excerpt of piece, Getting Plaudits, But some are never satisfied:

In addition to the information above, each record contains information about additives used in the fracturing fluid. The following is a list of the information shown on the fracturing record:
1. Trade Name: This is the name of the product designated by the supplier
2. Supplier: This is the name of the service company that supplied the product (e.g. Schlumberger,
Halliburton)
3. Purpose: This is the function served by the additive (Trade Name) in the fracturing process (e.g.
surfactant, biocide etc…)
4. Ingredients: This is the scientific name of the additive (e.g. Ethanol, Naphthalene etc…)
5. Chemical Abstract Service ‡ or CAS Number: This is a number assigned by a division of the American Chemical
Society for the purpose of identifying a specific substance. You can learn more about the toxicity characteristics by searching using the name or CAS number on the USEPA National Center for Computational Toxicology ‡ website. USEPA also maintains a Drinking Water Hotline that is available Monday-Friday from 8:30 AM-4:30 PM Eastern time at 1-800-426-4791.
6. Ingredient percentage in additive by % Mass: This describes the amount of the additive
(Trade Name) as a percent of the total mass. Note: Because the % Mass of the additive will be expressed as its maximum concentration, the total % Mass of ingredient percentage may exceed 100%.

From Nicole’s description, you can see FracFocus participants disclose quite a bit of information for each well.
If you’re interested in a brief overview of FracFocus, please check out this YouTube video:

External Affairs Team

Coterra Energy’s External Affairs Team is guided by its C.A.V.E. principles: Community. Agriculture. Veterans & First Responders. Education. Through these pillars, the team works to be a better neighbor and foster growth within Coterra Energy’s three vital regions: the Marcellus Shale in Northeast Pennsylvania, the Permian Basin in Southwest Texas and Southeast New Mexico, and the Anadarko Basin.

The External Affairs Team is led by George Stark, with support from Becca Myers and Bill desRosiers. Their job involves handling Coterra Energy’s public relations, community outreach, advertising, and political affairs.