Responsible Products Program

We have developed and implemented a company-wide program to manage the chemicals additives or products we use in our hydraulic fracturing operations.

Our Responsible Products Program helps ensure that the hydraulic fracturing fluid products we use in our operations are as safe, effective and as environmentally responsible as possible. The program categorizes the products we use based on their potential health and environmental impacts. After we’ve carefully assessed a specific product, we determine whether we need to implement any operational practices and/or controls or if we should discontinue using the product altogether.

Encana prohibits the use of any hydraulic fracturing fluid products containing diesel, 2-Butoxyethanol (2-BE) or benzene and we have informed our suppliers that any product containing these additives cannot be used in our hydraulic fracturing operations. Additionally, we have determined that none of the hydraulic fracturing products Encana uses contain arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead or mercury. Encana is committed to ensuring that none of these heavy metals will be used in our hydraulic fracturing operations in the future.

How does the Responsible Products Program work?

Our Responsible Products Program is a risk-based product assessment and management program. All of the hydraulic fracturing fluid products we use are carefully assessed based on their potential risk to human health or the environment. The program’s components include:

1. Collecting product data and information (primarily from Material Safety Data Sheets).
2. Assessing the products using our Responsible Product Assessment Tool.
3. Classifying the products into one of three categories.
4. Identifying and implementing any required operational practices and/or controls, to ensure responsible use of the products or eliminating the products from use.

What is the classification criteria based on?

To ensure that all of our product assessments are thorough, objective and accurate, we developed the Responsible Product Assessment Tool, which we call RESPASS, in conjunction with a third-party toxicology service provider. The tool uses government databases and information from Environment Canada, the European Union, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists as the basis for its classification.