Sunday, March 1, 2015

Interior Secretary: New fed fracking rules won’t undercut states

FEBRUARY 25, 2015
 
Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said Tuesday that new federal fracking rules will not override tougher regulations imposed by individual states.

The Interior Department is preparing to unveil a new set of rules that will regulate the design and stimulation of unconventional wells drilled on public land.

The proposed rules will likely allow states to continue enforcing regulations that are stricter than those set by the Interior Department.

“These are minimal standards on federal and tribal lands. If the state has a higher standard, the state standard will be adopted within that state,” Jewell said.

The new mandates will only apply to public lands but oil and gas companies are concerned that multiple layers of regulations at the local, state and federal levels will make projects more difficult.

Under the revised federal rules companies would have to disclose the chemicals they pump to drill and stimulate unconventional wells and follow tougher standards for well integrity to protect against groundwater contamination.

The proposed rules may allow drillers to disclose their chemical mix after a well is complete on FracFocus, an industry backed website, Fuel Fix said.

It is unclear if the final rules will preserve the proposed online disclosure system.

Companies would also be required to have a water management plan in place to deal with flowback.

“We know what the states’ rules are, and they will align in some cases. [But] ours may be more stringent in some ways, and we are going to hold companies to those higher standards,” Jewell said.