The Obama administration recently announced the first major federal regulation of hydraulic fracturing, better known as fracking, to take effect in June.Fracking has been praised for contributing to a massive increase in production of oil and natural gas, reducing the nation's reliance on imported oil and fostering increased use of cleaner natural gas over other fossil fuels, particularly coal.
Critics, however, have long faulted fracking's impact on the environment and public health from contaminated wastewater and release of toxic chemicals. In some states, the injection of wastewater in deep underground wells also has led to an increase in earthquakes.
The new rules proposed by the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management apply only to oil and gas leases on 750 million acres of public and Indian lands. They leave untouched the vast majority of fracking operations that take place on private and state lands.
These other drilling activities will continue to be governed only by state regulation, which has been supportive of the industry. However, many states have yet to develop regulations for fracking, and the new federal plan could push them to adopt tough rules. That's one of the industry's fears.
The Interior rules target three concerns about fracking. One is the way that recovered wastewater is handled. Instead of being stored in open pits, which is now common, covered tanks are to be used to minimize groundwater pollution.
A second element addresses construction and testing of well casements, which could help to control leakage of drilling fluids as well as accidental release of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.
This summer the administration will be proposing separate rules to reduce methane emissions from new and modified oil and gas production and transmission facilities, with voluntary guidelines for existing installations.
A third component mandates disclosure of information about chemicals used within 30 days of fracking operations. The information is to be placed in an online database at the industry-backed FracFocus website. However, companies will be allowed to keep certain proprietary chemicals secret.
Interior estimates that the cost of compliance with the new rules will be less than one-quarter of 1 percent of the cost for drilling a well, seemingly a small amount. Yet the industry argues that this cost and the associated red tape of regulation could seriously disrupt oil and gas drilling. It is more likely that declining oil prices would do that, as they have already.
Drilling companies also object to full and timely disclosure of the chemicals used in fracking. They cite the burdens of reporting such chemical use, even though tens of thousands of companies routinely and efficiently disclose chemical releases through the federal Toxics Release Inventory program.
Interior made many concessions to industry before issuing the proposed rules, and yet oil and gas companies filed lawsuits to block their implementation. In addition, Republican leaders in Congress promise legislation to keep control of fracking completely under state authority, a move that is almost certain to weaken regulation of the industry.
On the other side of the dispute, environmental groups generally have praised the new rules, although many say they are insufficient to protect public health.
For example, the rules do nothing about toxic air emissions at fracking sites, and the limited disclosure of fracking chemicals comes only after drilling begins.
President Obama is said to view his last two years in office as an opportunity to leave an historic environmental legacy, with actions on climate change topping that list.
The new fracking rules will help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Yet they may do less in that regard than many other administration efforts, such as setting higher vehicle fuel efficiency standards, promoting renewable energy technologies, and finalizing EPA's Clean Power Plan that will sharply limit carbon emissions from power plants.