DENVER – Federal officials Friday announced new rules governing hydraulic fracturing that aim to address health and safety fears around the controversial process.
The announcement came during a morning conference call with reporters and Interior Secretary Sally Jewell. The rules are believed to be the nation’s first major federal regulations on fracking.
“We need to put in place commonsense reforms that promote good government, that help define the rules of the road for the industry and that help protect communities,” Jewell said.
The rules will take effect in 90 days, governing operations on public and Native American lands. The Indian Mineral Leasing Act requires that Native American lands and communities have the same protections as U.S. public lands.
Drilling on private land, however, which accounts for the vast majority of operations, are not impacted by the rules. The rules cover about 100,000 wells, according to the Interior Department.
They include groundwater protections by requiring well-bore integrity, transparency around chemicals used in frack fluids and higher standards for storing waste fluids.
More than 1.5 million public comments were taken over the course of seven months in crafting the rules, which have been in the works for nearly three years. The process included regional forums and stakeholder meetings.
Federal officials say current rules have not kept pace with advanced fracking technologies, and so an update is necessary.
Fracking employs pressurized water mixed with chemicals and sand to break open natural-gas and oil deposits underground.
Concerns have been raised around health, environmental, safety and nuisance issues as the process has made its way to more populated areas, including in Colorado along the Front Range.
Industry advocates, however, say there is no quantifiable data yet to suggest that fracking has caused harm. The Independent Petroleum Association of America and Western Energy Alliance quickly filed a lawsuit Friday challenging the new rules. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Wyoming. The industry groups characterized the rule-making as a “reaction to unsubstantiated concerns.”
Christi Zeller, executive director of the La Plata County Energy Council, said of the estimated 3,300 active wells in La Plata County, about 1,000 fall on Southern Ute tribal land.
Zeller is encouraged by the fact that the rules would allow states and tribes to request variances from the provisions for which there is an equal or more protective regulation, especially considering integrity testing already is taking place in the region.
The Interior Department estimates the new rules will cost less than one-fourth of 1 percent of the cost of drilling a well. But Zeller still worries about cost.
“I don’t know if this is duplicative enough that we just get to mesh, or if this is going to require so much more that the costs associated are going to make it so that yours and my federal minerals won’t get developed because they just made this so expensive,” Zeller said.
She said, “For the most part, the federal government is usually creating a solution in search of a problem. There may not be a problem.”
A handful of local governments in Colorado have attempted to enact rules and regulations that overstep the state’s authority, either pushed by voter initiatives or through city or county actions.
Those ordinances resulted in court challenges, spurring residents to propose ballot initiatives that would offer greater local control. A task force was convened by Gov. John Hickenlooper in an effort to strike a compromise. But the task force only made modest progress on the local control issue. Citizens are considering going back to the ballot in 2016.
Environmentalists generally reacted with hope after the announcement, pointing to prohibiting fracking waste pits on public lands and requiring natural-gas and oil companies to test the integrity of every well to help prevent pollution.
But they said most of the rules simply are duplicating efforts already taking place by Western states and had hoped the White House would have taken stronger steps.
“There’s nothing here that’s really better than what states do ...” said Bruce Baizel, energy program director for Durango-based Earthworks. “But anything to do with oil and gas is a battle these days. I give them credit for trying to at least get up to average.”
pmarcus@durangoherald.com
