Jennifer A. Dlouhy
You wouldn't know it from the industry's angry reaction, but the Obama administration's latest plan to tighten standards for drilling on public lands gives more ground to the private sector at the expense of environmentalists who pushed for tougher protections.
The initiative, unveiled by the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management on Thursday, aims to boost the integrity of oil and gas wells to prevent contamination, would force companies to disclose the chemicals they pump underground and would make drillers adopt plans for managing water at the sites.
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The Bureau of Land Management's rule is "a solution in search of a problem," said Karen Harbert, the head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Institute for 21st Century Energy. "States are much better suited to regulate hydraulic fracturing and have done an effective job. The Department of Interior's rule fails to provide a credible rationale as to why another set of regulations are needed."
Read the full article at Houston Chronicle.