WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, praised the $5.2 million Department of Energy (DoE) grant awarded to the Ground Water Protection Council in Oklahoma.
‘I applaud the Ground Water Protection Council for being awarded this $5.2 million federal grant, showing that states are the best regulators of energy within their borders,’ Inhofe said. ‘The Ground Water Protection Council has been doing responsible and excellent work running the FracFocus program in Oklahoma, partnering with the oil and gas industry to fully disclose to the public the chemicals used for hydraulic fracturing. With this grant money, the Council will be able to continue innovating their FracFocus platform to ensure state regulators have up to date and accurate information on chemical disclosure use for hydraulically fractured oil and gas wells in their state. GWPC will also expand its RBDMS platform to include real-time data on individual production and disposal wells, which will be of great benefit to royalty-owners across the country. With GWPC, Oklahoma is on the front lines of demonstrating that states can responsibly monitor and manage energy development within their borders.’
Both in the FY’16 and FY’17 of the Senate Energy and Water Development Appropriations bills, Inhofe secured support language to continue the funding for the Risk Based Data Management System (RBDMS) within the Department of Energy. RBDMS, managed by the Ground Water Protection Council, operates in state oil and natural gas environmental agencies allowing them to provide many services regarding public transparency of State oil and gas related data, including FracFocus, which provides public access to reported chemicals used for hydraulic fracturing within their area.