Texas legislation that would require disclosure of the contents of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) fluid, which was passed recently by the House, might stall in the Senate as the chair of that body’s Natural Resources Committee said he was unaware of the bill until recently and is concerned about “unintended consequences.”

Sen. Troy Fraser (R-Horseshoe Bay) told NGI’s Shale Daily that his committee is still looking at the bill “and making sure it does what we think it does and making sure we don’t have unintended consequences.”

The House legislation was filed in March with bipartisan support (see Shale Daily, March 18). Two Republicans — Reps. Myra Crownover of Denton and Tan Parker of Flower Mound — and two Democrats — Reps. Lon Burnam of Fort Worth and Mark Strama of Austin — helped pen HB 3328 with Resources Committee Chair Jim Keffer (R-Eastland). The bill, which passed the House last week (see Shale Daily, May 13), also has been supported by the Environmental Defense Fund and Texas League of Conservation Voters.

Fraser expressed frustration that he was not aware of the bill until last week when a nearly identical bill was filed in the Senate by Sen. Jane Nelson (R-Flower Mound).

Fraser noted that there are only two weeks left in the session, which ends May 30. “Any time you have an issue moving that fast at the end of a session there is always the opportunity for unintended consequences.” Asked specifically what he was concerned about, Fraser said he was not going to discuss the details of the legislation.

“When I’m comfortable that the bill needs to move [out of committee] is when it will be moved,” he said.