New Rules For Drilling on Federal Land Not Received Positively
The Department of the Interior released new proposed rules to govern fracking on federal lands last week. The press release can be viewed here.
Not surprisingly, nobody seems to be happy with what has been proposed. Here is a sampling of the response from the American Petroleum Institute:
Environmental groups are upset with the rules too, of course. From RT.com:
Why does all of this matter in our area, where there is not much federal land? Because the push to make these rules apply on all U.S. land instead of just federal land is inevitable. So we'll keep an eye on this and see what happens.
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Not surprisingly, nobody seems to be happy with what has been proposed. Here is a sampling of the response from the American Petroleum Institute:
Read the rest of API's statement here.WASHINGTON, May 16, 2013 – Erik Milito, API director of upstream and industry operations questioned the Bureau of Land Management’s proposed rules regulating hydraulic fracturing on federally-controlled land. He said rigorous state rules and state-based tools, such as FracFocus.org, are already in place to ensure responsible oil and natural gas development.
“States have led the way in regulating hydraulic fracturing operations while protecting communities and the environment for decades. While changes to the proposed rule attempt to better acknowledge the state role, BLM has yet to answer the question why BLM is moving forward with these requirements in the first place.“The production of oil and natural gas from shale and tight sand formations is the most significant development in U.S. energy in generations. Confusing the regulatory system would stand in way of economic growth, job creation and the opportunity to generate billions in revenue for federal, state and local governments.
Environmental groups are upset with the rules too, of course. From RT.com:
But environmental groups quickly accused federal officials of creating weak rules that contain dangerous loopholes that may be a risk to water supplies across America.
“The rules protect industry, not people,” Natural Resources Defense Council president Frances Beinecke told the Denver Post. “This draft is a blueprint for business-as-usual industrialization of our landscapes.”
The proposed regulations allow fracking companies to keep some of their chemicals exempt from disclosure, calling them ‘trade secrets’. Environmentalists have criticized the BLM for this, arguing that fracking companies could use dangerous chemicals near local communities that could pose an unknown risk, without having to report what they use. They also fail to require an evaluation of the security of cement barriers in individual wells. Oil and gas companies need only to have one of their wells tested for safety, and the government then assumes that the other wells are similar.
“After reviewing the draft rules, we believe the administration is putting the American public’s health and well-being at risk, while continuing to give polluters a free ride,” Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, told EcoWatch. “The draft BLM rules ignore the recommendations of the president’s own shale gas advisory committee, which called for transparency, full public chemical disclosure, environmental safeguards, and pollution monitoring.”Read that whole article here.
Why does all of this matter in our area, where there is not much federal land? Because the push to make these rules apply on all U.S. land instead of just federal land is inevitable. So we'll keep an eye on this and see what happens.
Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter!
Follow @EnergyNewsBlog
