The Obama administration unveiled long-awaited rules on Friday to bolster oversight on public lands of oil and natural gas drilling using fracking technology that has ushered in a boom in drilling but also triggered environmental protests.
Interior’s proposal would update its decades-old fracking regulations with new reporting standards and a requirement that companies get approval before using the drilling technique. The proposal also would require companies to reveal chemicals they use in hydraulic fracturing after they complete the process.
In the past, drilling companies had resisted calls to fully disclose the chemicals they use in fracking, which they regarded as proprietary information. The industry also believes it should be regulated by states instead of the federal government.
But critics, who say fracking has polluted drinking water, want the federal government to tighten regulations, and say drillers should reveal their chemicals before they inject them underground along with water and sand in the fracking process.
Fracking has unlocked vast new reserves for the United States but has provoked an intense backlash from some environmental groups and some neighbors of drilling sites.
“Fracking has … but has provoked an intense backlash from some environmental groups and some neighbors of drilling sites.” Who cares?
If “Interior [had] decades-old fracking regulations”, then material adverse effects should have shown up by now.
Critics making speculative claims is evidence only of their lack of character.