NGW Magazine: US Fracking goes to federal appeal court
The string of liquefaction terminals being built along the US coastline is testimony to the economic benefts of cheap gas production. The question now is who regulates the gas production on federal lands.
A fight has broken out over federal versus US state control of drilling on public lands.
The bone of contention is whether the federal government can impose new rules for hydraulic fracturing – the technology that has made the country a gas exporter, but which is environmentally controversial.
In March last year, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), custodian of the federal lands, issued new regulations to govern fracking on them.
States, producers and residents on public lands mounted a successful legal challenge in the district court of Wyoming against the BLM’s fracking rules but they may yet be defeated on appeal.
The main parties to the lawsuit are the states of Wyoming, Colorado, North Dakota and Utah and two native American tribes versus the US federal government.
Three separate groupings have lined up in support of the federal government...
Susan Sakmar