BLM’s Updated Draft Fracking Rule Draws Criticism from Both Sides
Last week, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released an updated draft rule governing hydraulic fracturing activities on public and Indian lands. Full Story
Hydraulic fracturing
New Hydraulic Fracturing Study Finds No Issues
The Washington Post has a story on a recent study finding that hydraulic fracturing has not contaminated water wells in Arkansas: “Members of the U.S. Geological Survey were also part of the study, which examined 127 drinking water wells for evidence of pollution from methane gas or chemicals. Full Story
Bureau of Land Management Issues New Draft Fracking Regulations
On Thursday, May 16, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) issued its lasted proposed fracking regulations. The proposed regulations would require wider disclosure of fracking chemicals. Full Story
EPA Requires Reporting of Certain Chemical Compounds Used in Fracking
Last week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a rule that would require notification to EPA before manufacturing, importing or processing a particular type of chemical commonly used in hydraulic fracturing operations. Full Story
California Lawmakers Making a Strong Push to Ban Hydraulic Fracturing—Michael Mills
For more than a year, hydraulic fracturing has been one of the country’s biggest hot-button issues—both inside and out of the legal space. The cry from opponents of the practice, which uses pressurized liquid to extract natural gas from source rocks, is that we don’t know enough about its residual impacts and, as a result, regulations hasn’t been able to keep pace with industry. Joining me today from Stoel Rives‘s Sacramento office to explain what California lawmakers are doing to try to slow things down until we know more is attorney Michael Mills, author on the firm’s California Environmental Law Blog. Full Story
Pennsylvania DEP: Hydraulic Fracturing Operation Did Not Contaminate Local Wells
Last week, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced that a natural gas hydraulic fracturing operation was not responsible for methane contamination found in three private water wells in the Northeast portion of the state. Full Story
Fracking Stymied On Federal Lands in California
In an opinion with as many acronyms as the Dallas Cowboys have draft-pick detractors, a California federal court in Center for Biological Diversity and Sierra Club v. The Bureau of Land Management et al, held that the BLM violated the National Environmental Policy Act in its assessment of oil and gas leases on federal lands in California. Full Story
New York Court Upholds Local Hydraulic Fracturing and Oil and Gas Development Bans
Last Friday, a four judge panel of a New York appeals court upheld two local zoning laws that prohibit activities related to oil and gas exploration and development, including hydraulic fracturing. Full Story
Pennsylvania Supreme Court Confirms the Dunham Rule
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Or, as said by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, “A rule of property long acquiesced in should not be overthrown except for compelling reasons of public policy or the imperative demands of justice.” There were no such imperatives in Butler vs. Charles Powers Estate, in which the Court upheld the ”Dunham Rule” in Pennsylvania oil and gas law. Full Story
Pennsylvania Supreme Court Upholds Statewide Oil and Gas Conveyance Rules
In October of 2012 the Pennsylvania Supreme Court heard oral argument on two key cases that potentially could reshape the laws and rules applicable to hydraulic fracturing in the state. Full Story
