US EPA

The purpose of this product is to make accessible the information about the 1,173 hydraulic fracturing-related chemicals that were listed in the external review draft of the Hydraulic Fracturing Drinking Water Assessment that was released recently. The product consists of a series of spreadsheets with physicochemical and toxicological information pulled from several sources of information, including: EPI Suite, LeadScope, QikiProp, Reaxys, IRIS, PPRTV, ATSDR, among other sources. The spreadsheets also contain background information about how the list of chemicals were compiled, what the different sources of chemical information are, and definitions and descriptions of the values presented.

Hydraulic fracturing in combination with advanced directional drilling techniques has made it possible to economically extract oil and gas from unconventional resources, such as shale, tight formations, and coalbeds. The growth in domestic oil and gas exploration and production made possible by the expanded use of hydraulic fracturing, has raised concerns about its potential for impacts to human health and the environment. Specific concerns have been raised by the public about the effects of hydraulic fracturing on the quality and quantity of drinking water resources.

The U.S. Congress urged the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to study the relationship between hydraulic fracturing and drinking water resources. In 2011, the EPA published its Plan to Study the Potential Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing on Drinking Water Resources. The research described in the Study Plan began the same year and has resulted in 12 EPA reports and several journal publications. The Assessment of the Potential impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing for Oil and Gas on Drinking Water Resources, which this draft compilation of chemical information supports, uses the results from EPA-led research projects and the results of hundreds of other publications to provide a synthesis of the science related to hydraulic fracturing and drinking water resources.

The purpose of this product is to compile and make accessible information about the 1,173 hydraulic fracturing-related chemicals listed in the external review draft of the Hydraulic Fracturing Drinking Water Assessment.

U.S. EPA. Compilation of Physicochemical and Toxicological Information About Hydraulic Fracturing-Related Chemicals (Draft Database). U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-15/134, 2015.

Comments on the these attachments may be submitted and reviewed using the e-Government Regulations.gov Web site. From the site, select “Environmental Protection Agency” and the keyword “EPA-HQ-OA-2015-0245 (for the docket ID) to comment on this data.