Federal Judge Strikes Down Obama Fracking Regulations

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Gavel-falling.jpgBig news to report with an effort to beat back President Obama's wild and mad grab at executive power. Earlier this week a federal judge in Wyoming--appointed by Obama himself--ruled that the Dept. of Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) fracking rules are an illegal power grab and has struck them down. MDN has written about this issue since the new rules were proposed in 2012 (see BLM Issues Proposed New Rule for Fracking Federal Lands). The proposal was a disaster and quickly pulled by the BLM for reconsideration. Another set was issued in 2013 (see BLM Releases Revised Rules for Fracking – Why it Matters). The BLM issued their "final" set of rules in March 2015 (see BLM Introduces “Final” Fracking Rules for Fed Lands – 3 Yrs Late). As we've warned from the beginning, the reason the BLM rules, which only apply to federal lands (we don't have much in the way of federal land in the northeast) is still important, is because Obama had planned to expand the rules, once adopted, to also apply to private, non-government land (see Feds ‘Hope’ States will Use BLM Rules for ALL Fracking). The industry put up a vigorous defense, and in the end, the Obama judge (we still can't get over that!) ruled Congress specifically withheld fracking oversight from the BLM and Dept. of Interior. The law is unambiguous--and yes, we still have a nation of laws--if we can survive until Obama is ejected from office in January 2017...

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