API to BLM: Proposed Fracking Rule Just Isn’t Needed

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The Dept. of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released a second version of a proposed federal rule for fracking on federal lands in May (see BLM Releases Revised Rules for Fracking – Why it Matters). There’s some, but not much, federal land in the northeastern U.S.–most federal land is located in the western U.S. In fact, according to an Energy Information Administration official, there’s not a lot of overlap between federal lands and shale plays (see EIA Deputy Says Most Federal Lands, Shale Plays Don’t Intersect). So what’s the big deal with the new rules?

The American Petroleum Institute thinks there’s enough of an overlap between federal land and shale plays that the BLM’s new fracking rule will cost drillers a boatload of money without achieving a whole lot in the way of safety or positive impact on the environment. The API is, in fact, recommending the BLM either revise their fracking rule for a third time to get it right, or better yet, just forget about the new rule altogether because it’s really unnecessary…

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