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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Joe Fassler

US oil firms pumping secret chemicals into ground and not fully reporting it

an oil rig
An oil rig in Weld county, Colorado, in 2022. Photograph: RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post via Getty Images

Colorado oil and gas companies have pumped at least 30m lbs of secret chemicals into the ground over the past 18 months without making legally required disclosures, according to a new analysis.

That’s in spite of first-in-the-nation rules requiring operators and their suppliers to list all chemicals used in drilling and extraction, while also banning any use of Pfas “forever chemicals” at oil and gas sites. Since the transparency law took effect in July 2023, operators have fracked 1,114 sites across the state, but as of 1 May chemical disclosures have not been filed for 675 of them – more than 60% of the total, the analysis says.

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