FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2015
WASHINGTON, DC (AP)
The Obama administration said Friday it is requiring
companies that drill for oil and natural gas on federal lands to disclose chemicals
used in hydraulic fracturing operations.
A rule to take effect in June also updates requirements for
well construction and disposal of water and other fluids used in fracking, a
drilling method that has prompted an ongoing boom in natural gas production.
The rule has been under consideration for more than three
years, drawing criticism from the oil and gas industry and environmental
groups. The industry fears the regulation could hinder the drilling boom, while
some environmental groups worry that it could allow unsafe drilling techniques
to pollute groundwater.
The final rule hews closely to a draft that has been
lingering since the Obama administration proposed it in May 2013. The rule
relies on an online database used by at least 16 states to track the chemicals
used in fracking operations. The website, FracFocus.org, was formed by industry
and intergovernmental groups in 2011 and allows users to gather well-specific
data on tens of thousands of drilling sites across the country.
Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said the rule will allow for
continued responsible development of federal oil and gas resources on millions
of acres of public lands while assuring the public that "transparent and
effective safety and environmental protections are in place."
Jewell, who worked on fracking operations in Oklahoma long
before joining the government in 2013, said decades-old federal regulations
have failed to keep pace with modern technological advances.
"I've personally fracked wells, so I understand the
risk as well as the reward," Jewell said. "We owe it to our kids to
get this right."
Fracking involves pumping huge volumes of water, sand and
chemicals underground to split open rocks to allow oil and gas to flow.
Improved technology has allowed energy companies to gain access to huge stores
of natural gas underneath states from Wyoming to New York but has also raised
widespread concerns about alleged groundwater contamination and even
earthquakes.
While the new rule only applies to federal land — which
makes up just one-tenth of natural gas drilling in the United States — the
Obama administration is hoping the rule will serve as a model and set a new
standard for hydraulic fracturing that states and other regulators will follow.
Brian Deese, a senior adviser to President Barack Obama,
said the rules for public lands could serve as a template that the oil and gas
industry could adopt to help address the public's concern about the health and
safety of fracking.
"Ultimately, this is an issue that is going to be decided
in state capitals and localities and swell as with the industry," he said.
The new rule drew immediate criticism from groups close to
the energy industry, which warned it could disrupt the yearlong energy boom in
the U.S.
"The Obama administration's hydraulic fracturing rule
is a solution in search of a problem," said Thomas Pyle, president of the
pro-industry Institute for Energy Research.
The League of Conservation Voters called the bill an
important step forward to regulate fracking.
Even so, the group was disappointed with the continued
reliance on FracFocus, which a spokeswoman described as an industry-run
website.
"While this proposal has improved from previous
versions, it represents a missed opportunity to set a high bar for protections
that would truly increase transparency and reduce the impacts (of fracking) to
our air, water, public lands," said spokeswoman Madeleine Foote.