DENVER - Another U.S. state is targeting the practice of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, with Colorado on Tuesday saying it will require energy companies to disclose more information about what they do.
Colorado regulators unanimously approved the new rules, which will take effect in April.
As fracking expands to more populated areas in the U.S., residents near wells are concerned -- and vocal -- about effects on their health and drinking water.
Tuesday's announcement comes after U.S. environmental regulators last week said they found a possible link between fracking and groundwater pollution in Colorado's neighbour, Wyoming.
Colorado's new guidelines are similar to those required by a first-in-the-nation law passed in Texas this year.
They rules go further than the Texas law by requiring energy companies to disclose the concentrations of all chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing. They also ask drillers to make public some information about ingredients considered trade secrets.
In recent years, Arkansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Montana, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wyoming have proposed or adopted rules requiring disclosure of fracking chemicals.
The Environmental Protection Agency last week said it found compounds likely associated with fracking chemicals in the groundwater beneath a small Wyoming community where residents say their well water smells like chemicals. Health officials last year advised residents not to drink the water after the EPA found low levels of hydrocarbons.
Industry officials said the EPA announcement didn't focus on the domestic water wells but two wells drilled somewhat deeper into the aquifer specifically to test for pollution.
The owner of the Pavillion gas field, Calgary, Alberta-based Encana, said the compounds could have had other origins not related to gas development.
