There are two search forms available in FracFocus:  Map Search and Standard Search.  The data available to be searched upon (e.g., API Number, Operator, State, etc.) is the same on the two forms.  To avoid conflicts in system resources the search screens will only return the top 2,000 disclosures when a search is performed.  The filtering of data and combination of search criteria will be critical to the user to assure that they have retrieved all the available disclosures desired based on this resource limit.

Each search form uses a winnowing down process that begins with the largest block of records (State) and works its way down to the smallest block of records (API Number).  For example if you enter just the State the search will return the top 2,000 disclosure records for that State.  If you also selected the county the search will return only those records for the particular State AND County you selected and so forth (up to 2,000 disclosures).  If you entered only the API Number the search will return only those disclosure records submitted for that well.  When using an API Number search please note that this could result in more than one disclosure if the well has been fractured more than once.

The two search forms have been modified (Available in March 2013) to add three new search criteria to the system:

1. Date search:  This search will allow you to look for disclosures based on the Start and/ or End date of the fracture job and will include a search of before or after either of these dates, a between dates search for either of the dates or an exact date for either date field. 

2. Chemical name search:  This search will show you a side by side box with the chemicals for which there are records in the system shown in the left box.  To search by a chemical or chemicals all you need to do is use the > symbol to move one or more chemical names from the left box to the right box.  Performing a search on common chemicals, such as water and hydrochloric acid, which are typically used in all fracture jobs, is not allowed as the result would be to return all of the disclosure records. A limit of 20 selected chemicals can be filtered on at a time.

3. Chemical Abstract Service number search:  This search will allow you to enter a specific chemical abstract service number (CAS number) and will return up to the top 2,000 disclosures that contain that number.  The advantage to using this search over the chemical name search is that CAS numbers are unique and may represent multiple chemical names.  This search also contains a link to the University of Akron’s chemical database to assist the user in identifying CAS numbers based on chemical names.  Please note that the same search restrictions on common chemicals (e.g., water, hydrochloric acid, etc.) that exist for Chemical name searches also applies to CAS number searches.

As with all other search criteria only those records meeting all of the conditions you select will be returned in a search. If you are using the Map search the result of the search will be a map showing the location of the disclosures.  You may have to zoom in on the map to see and select individual wells to access the disclosures.  On the Standard search a result list of the disclosures meeting the search criteria will be returned.  You can select a disclosure for viewing by clicking on the pdf icon on the left side of the list.

In some cases your computer or browser may have security controls which can prevent you from seeing the pdf.  These can usually be overcome by right clicking the orange bar at the top of the page and allowing the file to download if you are using Internet Explorer or by clicking on the  download box which appears at the bottom left of the screen and selecting Keep if you are using Google Chrome.  Other browsers may use different security protocols so please check your particular browsers security restrictions to find out the proper procedure for viewing files.