Senators from North Texas helped defeat efforts Wednesday May 25, 2011 to water down legislation that would force the disclosure of natural gas drilling chemicals.

Lawmakers who want mandatory disclosure of chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing thought they'd reached a solid agreement with citizens and industry. The House had passed a bill that Republican Troy Fraser of Horseshoe Bay agreed to sponsor in the Senate calling the disclosure measure a model for the rest of the country.

Fraser: The operators drilling wells and the service operators have agreed to disclose chemicals they're using in this so everyone will know what they're putting into the ground. They're going to post it on a public website.

But when Frasier brought the so-called fracking bill to the Senate floor Wednesday it appeared some drilling companies had shifted gears.

Republican Glenn Hegar of Katy tried to delay key parts of the bill's implementation, anywhere from nine months to two years.

Hegar: I want to make certain we take each step one at a time and we do the right thing.

North Texas Senators reacted like whiplash. They represent a lot of voters surrounded by drilling in the Barnett Shale.

Democrat Wendy Davis of Fort Worth told Hegar delays in disclosing chemicals could threaten citizen health and underground water supplies.

Davis: In the time period between now and September 2012 thousands of new wells will be drilled in the Barnett Shale and none of those will have as an opportunity for the public the ability for them to ask about the fracturing fluid that's being used.

Flower Mound Republican Jane Nelson, an original sponsor of the legislation, and Plano Republican Florence Shapiro called delay unacceptable.

Nelson: What you're saying to all the parties concerned is we think we have the model but we're not really sure so let's just wait a while to be sure. I believe if it is what we say it is let's not be wishy-washy on whether we think or think not.

When the vote was taken opponents of delay won the round then passed fracking disclosure out of the Senate. But Hegar successfully attached another controversial measure to the bill related to changes in the Railroad Commission. House and Senate supporters of fracking disclosure are now fighting end-of-session deadlines to reach agreement on the change and send this first-of-a-kind drilling disclosure measure to the Governor.