Interior Department Releases Final Hydraulic Fracturing Rule

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Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell March 20 released the final rule regulating hydraulic fracturing activities on U.S. public and tribal lands. The rule will take effect in 90 days. Jewell noted there are more than 100,000 oil and gas wells on federally managed lands. Of wells currently being drilled, more than 90% are hydrauli­cally fractured. The rule includes a process so states and tribes may request variances from provisions for which they have an equal or more protective regulation in place. The process is said to avoid duplication, while enabling the development of more protective standards by state and tribal governments.

Key components of the rule include provisions requiring a validation of well integrity and strong cement barriers between the wellbore and water zones through which the wellbore passes, and requiring companies to publicly disclose chemicals used in hydraulic fractur­ing to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). There are also higher standards for interim storage of recovered waste fluids, and measures requiring companies to submit detailed information on the geology, depth, and location of existing wells to afford BLM an opportunity to evaluate and manage unique site characteristics.

BLM oversees about 700 million subsurface acres of federal mineral estate and carries out regulatory duties of the secretary of the Interior for an additional 56 million acres of Indian mineral estate across the U.S. The Indian Mineral Leasing Act and other laws require that Indian lands and communities have the same protections as U.S. public lands. The agency notes that the new hydraulic fracturing rule, in many instances, is similar to, or based on, existing state or tribal rules and industry best practices. BLM estimates the new rule will cost less than one-fourth of 1% of the cost of drilling a well, based on the Energy Information Administration’s average per-well cost of $5.4 million.

“Current federal well-drilling regulations are more than 30 years old and they simply have not kept pace with the technical complexities of today’s hydraulic fracturing operations,” said Jewell. “This updated and strengthened rule provides a framework of safeguards and disclosure protocols that will allow for the continued responsible development of our federal oil and gas resources. As we continue to offer millions of acres of public lands for conventional and renewable energy production, it is abso­lutely critical the public have confidence that transparent and effective safety and environmental protections are in place.”

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