DENVER—An energy company executive’s deed at an industry conference this month is bringing attention to new recipes for hydraulic fracturing fluids that can sometimes contain chemicals commonly used for antifreeze or bleaching hair.
At the conference in Denver, Halliburton Co. CEO Dave Lesar talked about addressing public concerns about fracking, which extracts natural gas by blasting a mix of water, chemicals and usually sand underground. Attendees say he raised a container of Halliburton’s new fracking fluid made from chemicals sourced from the food industry, said he’d show how safe it was, then had a fellow executive drink it.
Mark Brownstein (BROWN’-steen) of the Environmental Defense Fund says he’s pleased Halliburton is taking steps to remove toxic chemicals but says it’s unclear how soon the new recipe will be widely used.
