Senate Republicans take aim at Obama gas ‘fracking’ regulations

TheHill.com
By Ben Geman
 03/29/12 09:36 AM ET

Senior Senate Republicans are floating legislation that would slam the brakes on Obama administration efforts to expand regulation of the controversial oil-and-gas drilling method called “hydraulic fracturing” on federal lands.

Sen. James Inhofe (Okla.), the ranking Republican on the Environment and Public Works Committee, is the lead sponsor, and the seven other backers include Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), the top GOP member on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

The bill is unlikely to advance but will provide Republicans another rallying point for allegations that President Obama’s Interior Department and Environmental Protection Agency have an overzealous agenda that will stymie development.

The bill introduced Wednesday requires that only states may regulate hydraulic fracturing — or “fracking” —– on federal lands within their borders.

“States better understand their unique geologies and interests,” Inhofe said when introducing the measure.

Fracking involves high-pressure injections of water, chemicals and sand into rock formations to open up seams that enable trapped gas to flow.

The bill arrives ahead of a planned Interior Department proposal that would require disclosure of chemical ingredients used in fracking on public lands, and also create new requirements regarding well integrity and wastewater management.

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To think that each state can 'regulate' its own rules that are supposed to prevent adverse impacts from the fracking industry is ludacris! What's to regulate when they are Federally exempt? To remove local governance from cities and counties only creates a fascist, iron-fist for the oil and gas Governors to continue to play  'back-door Romeo' with the industry. If America is an immoral environment, it is because the government has no regulations that mitigate special interest and kick-backs to politicians from the Oligarchy. Get it yet?

Ball Calls for Moratorium on Hydrofracking

thedailypeekskill.com
by Bob Dumas (email)12/23/11

Senator Ball gives his hydrofracking presentation

to the SRO crowd at Lewisboro Library Wednesday

night, which included disturbing images from Pennsylvania.

LEWISBORO, N.Y. – State Senator Greg Ball (R, C – Patterson) called for a statewide one-year moratorium on hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking) during a presentation he gave on the controversial subject at the Lewisboro Library Wednesday night.

More than 70 people from the north county area packed the library to hear Ball speak on hydrofracking - the process of extracting natural gas from gas shale deposits, something that many say is detrimental to the environment.






Ball said a moratorium is needed because Governor Cuomo is not expected to allocate any funds to regulate fracking and gas drilling in next year’s executive budget proposal.


“Without the funding to properly regulate and without the manpower to properly oversee this industry, we must put the brakes on fracking,” Ball told the crowd.


“It's our fundamental responsibility to learn from the mistakes of other states like Pennsylvania and avoid the devastating effects of hydraulic fracturing here in New York. Without the funding and manpower in place to protect the well-being of our environment and our citizens, a moratorium is necessary so we can get the proper resources and regulations in place.”

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Debate On Halting NY Fracking Ban Reaches Endgame

Date: 30-Nov-11
Country: USA
PlanetArk
Author: Edward McAllister

The final hearings on regulations that would end a ban on drilling for natural gas in New York state got under way on Tuesday in a packed auditorium at Sullivan County Community College.

In a last chance for communities to voice their views for and against a controversial drilling technique called fracking, about 300 people turned up, many of whom were left in the rain as the house spilled above capacity.

Advocates of fracking, which involves blasting chemical-laced water and sand into shale rock to release gas, told a rowdy, polarized audience that drilling would create jobs and boost New York's ailing economy.

Those against blamed it for contaminating water wells and threatening the safety of local communities.
Outside, signs read "Don't frack with our water" and "Jail the frackers".

Others disagreed. "We fight wars and import oil to get resources that we have at home," said Edward Allees, 88, from Jeffersonville, New York. "What is so special about New York that we can't drill here?"
New York sits atop the Marcellus Shale formation, the largest U.S. deposit of natural gas, which also stretches across parts of Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio.

Governor Andrew Cuomo hopes to put an end to the drilling moratorium by next year as the New York Department of Environmental Conservation finalizes new regulations for the state.

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