Sep 10, 2012 Proposed Hydraulic Fracturing Rules Obstruct Independents from Developing American Oil and Natural Gas
Today, Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) President and CEO Barry Russell and Western Energy Alliance President Tim Wigley sent a letter to Interior Secretary Salazar, requesting a meeting to discuss the impending rule for well stimulation, including hydraulic fracturing, on federal and Indian lands.
The two trade associations representing thousands of independent, mainly small oil and natural gas producers, pointed to a recent economic analysis of the proposed rule that shows a cost to society of about $1.5 billion annually. These added costs will undoubtedly divert productive resources away from American energy development, job creation, and economic growth, and further disadvantage states with federal and Indian lands.
IPAA and Western Energy Alliance filed joint comments today which detailed how the implementation of these rules would negatively affect America’s oil and natural gas producers.
From the letter:
“The Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) proposed rule will have enormous implications for America’s oil and natural gas producers. The proposed rule is unnecessary, excessive and requires actions that no state currently regulating oil and natural gas production deems necessary based on their decades of regulatory experience. The effort will also place undue economic burdens and time delays on independent producers that will inevitably drive many smaller companies away from exploring for oil and natural gas on federal lands.
“Onshore federal lands hold an opportunity for increased production of American energy. This benefits our nation with greater energy security, increased employment opportunities and higher royalty revenues to the federal government. The proposed rule with its one-size-fits-all federal approach to regulating well construction, disclosure and water management, overrides the states which have been successfully regulating oil and natural gas activities for decades with an exemplary safety record.
“The BLM should look for opportunities to work with the individual states and allow them to do their job, not enact another set of burdensome regulations that will only further drive small oil and natural gas producers from operating on federal lands.”
Click here to read the letter in its entirety.
Click here to view IPAA and Western Energy Alliance’s full comments.
About Western Energy Alliance
Western Energy Alliance, founded in 1974 as the Independent Petroleum Association of Mountain States, is a non-profit trade association representing 400 companies engaged in all aspects of environmentally responsible exploration and production of oil and natural gas in the West. More information on Western Energy Alliance and its members is available at www.westernenergyalliance.org.
About IPAA
IPAA is the leading, national upstream trade association representing oil and natural gas producers that drill 95 percent of the nation’s oil and natural gas wells. These companies account for 54 percent of America’s oil production and 85 percent of its natural gas production. For more information, visit www.ipaa.org.
