The American Petroleum Institute, Independent Petroleum Association of America, and Western Energy Alliance expressed their support on Sept. 25 for the US Bureau of Land Management to rescind its 2015 hydraulic fracturing rule.
“API believes that the rule should be withdrawn because it is redundant and unnecessary and would impose additional costs on the regulated community without providing any significant benefit, deterring investment in the development of federal minerals and thus adversely affecting economic and job growth,” said Richard L. Ranger, senior policy advisor for upstream and industry operations, in a letter to acting BLM Director Michael D. Nedd.
BLM also should withdraw the rule because the US Department of the Interior agency recognizes that state agencies are regulating fracing and other onshore oil and gas development activities already, Ranger said. “BLM has acknowledged that onshore oil and gas development, including [fracing], well construction, mechanical integrity, well monitoring, and fluid management and additive disclosure, is already strictly regulated by the federal and state governments,” he said.
In their joint comments, IPAA and Denver-based WEA explained in detail why BLM’s 2015 regulation duplicated state efforts and was not justified. Rescinding it would save more than $220 million/year in compliance costs, they said.
“Industry recognizes that every energy-producing area has different geologic, topographic, and hydrologic conditions, which is why the states are far more efficient and effective at regulating hydraulic fracturing than the federal government,” IPAA Pres. Barry Russell separately said. “Our companies have already demonstrated that even without the implementation of the 2015 federal rule, we play a part in the solution to reducing carbon emissions.”
WEA Pres. Kathleen Sgamma noted that a federal appeals court dismissed an appeal by environmental organizations a few days earlier of a district court’s decision invalidating BLM’s regulation of fracing at oil and gas operations on onshore public lands (OGJ Online, Sept. 22, 2017).
“IPAA and the Alliance have been working together since the first draft of the rule was issued several years ago, and we’re providing yet more technical and legal reasoning on why the federal government should not infringe on state regulation of fracing,” Sgamma said on Sept. 25. “We urge BLM to move forward swiftly with this rulemaking to finally put this ill-conceived rule to bed.”
At API, Upstream and Industry Operations Director Erik Milito separately said BLM’s proposal to rescind the 2015 rule recognizes state governments’ strong work in promoting safety and environmental protection while stimulating economic activity through oil and gas projects.
“By working with and relying upon state regulatory agencies, BLM is able to avoid a one-size-fits-all approach and duplicative regulation that could stifle, rather than spur, investment in domestic energy production,” Milito said.
Contact Nick Snow at [email protected].
