Oil Groups Ask Court to Temporarily Block US Fracking Rules

Two oil and gas groups have asked a federal court to block the implementation new U.S. rules for hydraulic fracturing on public lands until their lawsuit challenging the regulations is resolved.

 

The Independent Petroleum Association Of America (IPAA) and the Western Energy Alliance filed a motion on Friday for a preliminary injunction to prevent the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management from enforcing the regulations, arguing the standards will cause their members irreparable harm.

 

The regulations, finalized in March, would require companies to provide data on the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, and to take steps to prevent leakage from oil and gas wells on federally owned land. They do not cover wells on private land.

 

Fracking, involves the injection of large amounts of water, sand and chemicals underground at high pressure to extract fuel.

 

In their filing with the U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming, the oil trade groups said the fracking regulations display a "misunderstanding" of the technical aspects of oil and gas production.

 

The groups said the Bureau also failed to properly account for the economic consequences of the rules.

 

"Requiring oil and gas operators to comply with these unsustainable regulations would impose costs that cannot be recovered and discourage development that would benefit the public, without any demonstrable environmental or administrative benefits," the groups told the court.

 

A spokesman for the Bureau of Land Management said the agency does not comment on pending litigation.

 

Environmentalists have charged that fracking, which helped unleash the shale oil and gas boom, pollutes the air and fouls drinking water supplies. Oil and gas industry supporters counter the practice has been done safely under state oversight for decades.

 

The IPAA and the Western Energy Alliance argued the Bureau has not shown any deficiencies in existing state regulations for oil and gas drilling that would justify the federal standards.

 

The case is Independent Petroleum Association of America et al v. Jewell et al, U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming, No. 15-cv-00041.