Press Releases

Washington, D.C. (March 20, 2015) – Today, Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell released a final rule regulating hydraulic fracturing on federal lands. The rule unnecessarily duplicates the regulation of hydraulic fracturing by state governments, in the process adding costly red tape and bureaucratic uncertainty to the oil and gas permitting process on federal lands. 

In response, Congressional Western Caucus Chairman Cynthia Lummis (WY-At large) issued the following statement:

“The Department of the Interior has yet to demonstrate why a federal hydraulic fracturing rule is even necessary in the first place with states already regulating the practice effectively within their borders,” said Chairman Lummis. “This rule jeopardizes these efforts by forcing states to jump through bureaucratic hoops just to reclaim their authority to regulate drilling and wellhead activities that have been under their purview for decades. The federal government is the newcomer in this space, bringing nothing to the table except more red tape and more barriers to energy production on federal land that continues to lag far behind the energy boom on state and private lands. This rule disproportionately impacts the very western states whose energy reserves are a necessary ingredient to achieving lasting American energy security.”

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