by Don Groves
On May 11, 2012, the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) published proposed regulations
governing “Oil and Gas; Well Stimulation, Including Hydraulic
Fracturing, on Federal and Indian Lands.” BLM is a latecomer to this
party. Its belated meddling lacks practical or economic justification. Instead,
the proposed BLM rule would drive oil and gas developers off federal
and tribal lands. Complying with the rules is too complicated and
costly. Producers can realize a much faster and much better return on
their capital investment by developing oil and gas reserves on adjoining
private lands.
Federal and tribal lands hold large reserves of oil and natural gas.
At a time when the United States desperately needs to move toward, not
away from, energy independence, it makes no sense to let bureaucratic
meddling effectively place these valuable domestic reserves out of
reach. The problems with BLM’s approach are myriad.
BLM Misses the Mark
First, a central, federal, one-size-fits-all approach does not work.
The reserves that the oil and gas industry wants to access using
hydraulic fracturing occur in areas with different geographic,
topographic, hydrological, population, precipitation and umpteen other
characteristics. The oil and gas deposits are found at different depths;
the water table is at different depths. The surface and subsurface vary
dramatically, ranging from the Marcellus Shale Formation
in the Northeast to the San Juan Basin in the Southwest. States and
tribes have long ago stepped up to the plate with sensible regulations
suitable to their individual conditions. They are way ahead of BLM.
Second, even if states and tribes did not already have this under
control, BLM’s proposed regulations are inappropriate. The BLM regs are
based on inaccurate assumptions, flawed economics and a perceived but
actually nonexistent need.
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