“The court got it right”, said Mead.
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The ruling, issued by Wyoming-based District Court Judge Scott W. Skavdahl late Tuesday, blocks the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management from enforcing a 2015 rule that set detailed standards for the construction of oil and gas wells drilled into some 700 million acres of federal land.
And as courts decide where the regulatory power should lie, the environmental hazards of fracking continue to be debated.
The ruling issued by Judge Skavdahl delivers another blow to President Obama’s environmental control efforts.
US President Barack Obama had made it his mission to open fracking up to greater scrutiny, including delegating authority to the Interior Department.
However, Colorado, North Dakota, Utah and Wyoming opposed the rules, and Skavdahl later blocked implementation of the regulations.
U.S. District Court Judge Scott Skavdahl of Wyoming struck down the rules, which were published previous year, finding that Congress did not delegate authority to regulate fracking to BLM.
Speaker Paul Ryan commented on Skavdahl’s ruling Wednesday, saying, “Only Congress can write laws”. The BLM rule overreaches its authority and creates confusion. Tuesday’s decision came just a day after the USA filed a brief arguing for reversal of the preliminary injunction. “This ruling is an important victory for anyone who wants to protect three separate branches of government”.
They were joined in their appeal by several industry groups, including the Independent Petroleum Association of America.
Among other things, the Interior rule would have required more testing of wells on federal lands, to ensure they don’t leak, as well the disclosure of chemicals used in fracking.
Fracking involves injecting liquids into underground rock formations at high pressure to extract oil and gas that would be all but inaccessible using conventional methods.
“While there is no way to ever make fracking safe, the oil and gas industry has repeatedly proven that it needs more standards to keep the public safe from the dangers of fossil fuels, not less”, said Lena Moffitt, director of the Sierra Club’s Beyond Dirty Fuels campaign.
Press Release – On Tuesday a federal judge in Wyoming struck down the Obama Administration’s regulations against hydraulic fracturing.
Skavdahl made it clear what he was – and wasn’t – considering in his ruling. The BLM argued the collective bills constituted a “broad authority” to regulate oil and gas drilling on federal and Native American lands.
“The court’s erroneous determination that a Congressional exemption of one activity from one federal environmental act exempts that activity from all other federal statutes – including statutes that apply to activity on lands owned and managed for the benefit of the public – could have far-reaching consequences”, Wiseman wrote in her blog post today published by the Center for Progressive Reform.
He said he believes the environmental community has twisted the argument against the industry using lies and distortions about what happens when an oil and gas well is drilled. “Independent producers are good stewards of our lands”.
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The cases are State of Wyoming v. U.S. Department of the Interior, 15-cv-43, U.S. District Court, District of Wyoming (Casper) and Independent Petroleum Association of America v. Jewell, 15-cv-41, U.S. District Court, District of Wyoming (Casper).
