Oil safety breaches 'hidden from public'

Oil and gas companies in 33 US states can avoid heightened public scrutiny because data about violations of safety and pollution rules are effectively hidden from residents, according to an environmental group's investigation.

The Natural Resources Defense Council, which probed a patchwork of state oil and gas regulations, warned that the lack of disclosure left citizens vulnerable as the shale boom brings production closer to residential areas.

Over the past six years the shale revolution unleashed by fracking and horizontal drilling has developed so quickly that many state and federal regulators have been left standing.

Only now are they beginning to catch up by introducing new safeguards, but not all public officials deem them necessary.

Of 36 states with active oil and gas development, the NRDC and a watchdog called the FracTracker Alliance found that only three make data on violations easily accessible to the public - Colorado, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

From 2009 to 2013 in Pennsylvania alone, the NRDC found that 68 large companies were responsible for 3,978 violations of safety and pollution rules.

In 33 states there is little or no public information on well site issues monitored by regulators such as oil spills, drinking water contamination, air pollution and the strength of well casings, they found.

Amy Mall, senior policy analyst at NRDC, said: "It's extremely difficult for members of the public to get information on the extent to which any particular company is violating the law.

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"If an individual wants to know if a company is a good actor - whether they want to sign [an exploration and production] lease with them or have them operating in their community - it's almost impossible for them to find out."

The American Petroleum Institute, the biggest oil lobby group, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Fracking has created an industry that differs in many ways from the conventional oil and gas production under way when most state laws were written - including in its propensity to bring development close to homes in suburban and rural areas.

In states that disclose incidents, the 68 companies tracked by the NRDC were responsible for 235 violations in Colorado and 364 in West Virginia.

Last month the Obama administration sought to establish a blueprint for state regulators to follow by proposing new rules on fracking on public land, which covered well integrity, wastewater disposal and the disclosure of fracking chemicals.

But some environmental groups said they did not go far enough. In many Republican-leaning states such as Texas, where lawmakers are close to the oil industry, the chances of strict new rules that inhibit shale development are slim.

New York, a staunch Democratic state, has banned fracking entirely.

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