Denver — The Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission (ECMC) staff updated commissioners July 9 on implementation of House Bill 22-1348 and enforcement actions after publishing a chemical-disclosure website and related forms, saying operator compliance has risen substantially but that some operators remain out of compliance.

The update from Director Murphy and Arthur Kepsela, Environmental Data Group Supervisor, covered the statute’s requirements for chemical manufacturers to submit product ingredient lists and for operators to report downhole chemical product use on a new “Form 46” (manufacturers) and “Form 46a” (operators). Kepsela demonstrated the ECMC’s searchable disclosure website and said operators must provide the chemical-disclosure list back to surrounding mineral owners, surface owners, residents, schools and certain local officials within a half mile of the well site.

Why it matters: HB 22-1348 created a statutory disclosure regime separate from FracFocus, requiring manufacturers to provide ingredient lists 30 days before sale or use and operators to report downhole operations within 120 days after work begins. ECMC staff say the new system makes ingredient and product-use information available to potentially affected communities and that enforcement will continue where operators fail to meet statutory timelines.

ECMC staff said a May 20 report from Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) had identified low reporting rates when PSR sampled FracFocus and ECMC submissions. Kepsela said PSR found 1,114 hydraulically fractured wells listed on FracFocus in the period it examined, but only 439 of those (39 percent) had an associated Form 46a filed with ECMC. Staff said outreach and meetings with operators after the report produced rapid increases in filings: ECMC snapshots showed roughly a mid-May compliance rate near 55–56 percent and an 89 percent rate on June 7 (ECMC’s snapshot dates are in their slides). The agency has continued to see filing activity since then.

Enforcement: Director Murphy and Kepsela said staff issued nine warning letters on July 8 to operators allegedly failing to submit required Form 46a reports, with compliance deadlines set in the letters for July 18. Kepsela said ECMC would issue Notices of Alleged Violation (NOAVs) if the operators do not comply. Separately, ECMC senior staff issued four NOAVs for alleged use of chemicals prohibited under rule 437 and table 437-1; Kepsela emphasized those NOAVs were not for PFAS and that the prohibited-chemical NOAVs were based on ingredients listed on Form 46/46a filings.

Website and forms: Kepsela demonstrated the disclosure database (hosted in the COGIS system), showed how users can search by well, location, operator or county, and said the site allows downloads of chemical lists. He said ECMC posted guidance for both Form 46 (manufacturer disclosure) and Form 46a (operator product-use report) and that the website was released in December 2024.

Staff cautioned the public that disclosure is a dynamic, ongoing program. Director Murphy said staff plan to return to the commission in late August or September with a further update on compliance and enforcement outcomes.

Ending: ECMC reiterated that the disclosure law is distinct from FracFocus and that trade-secret information remains protected under the statute, although manufacturers must disclose product constituents to ECMC. The commission’s stated goal is 100 percent compliance; staff used outreach and a recently formed QA/QC audit team to review filings and to issue warning letters where appropriate.