Fracking Bill Could Take the ‘Public’ Out of Public Lands

[formercia]

Source: Ecowatch





4 hours ago



By Judith Kohler


It’s about local control, say members of Congress who want the states, not the federal government, to regulate fracking on federal lands—those public lands that belong to all Americans.
The House Natural Resources Committee is considering a bill that would bar the feds from enforcing any “Federal regulation, guidance or permit requirement regarding” fracking in states that have their own rules or guidance.
The impetus for the bill? The Interior Department has proposed updating its fracking regulations, which are more than 30 years old. It’s a reasonable thing to do considering that the technology has dramatically changed and literally transformed the landscape of drilling, opening up previously inaccessible deposits.
But the priority for the bill’s proponents is that the Interior Department keeps its hands off oil and gas operations on our public lands.

--snip---







Read more: http://ecowatch.com/2013/fracking-bill-public-lands/

---

Guidance= Don't get caught.

[aggiesal]

1. Are these people nuts? . . .

Of course this needs to be regulated by the Federal Gov.

How does a state regulate fracking contaminants from affecting
a neighboring states' water supply?

I guess this is the libertarian way to shrink the government so
that can drown it in a bathtub.

[formercia]

2. Yes, they are Nuts.

The scary part is that some people actually vote for them.

[MisterP]

8. the new libertarian argument, in fact, is that public lands should be abolished since they're just

secret land grabs to be sold to CronyCapitalistsTM (that's what the Agenda 21 conspiracy theories say)

the Hunt brothers, Georgia Pacific, James Watts, and DuPont told Ayn Rand and Heinlein to get it on and create them a pseudophilosophy that lets them have their cake and eat it too, and boy did they ever!

[Lenomsky]

3. Cool :)

"The House Natural Resources Committee is considering a bill that would bar the feds from enforcing any “Federal regulation, guidance or permit requirement regarding” fracking in states that have their own rules or guidance."

The Obama and his cronies (DEA) should stay the 'Frack out' of Washington's MJ growers business. State Law v Fed Law ... selective to say the least! Any wonder I refuse to move to USA albeit we are the dumb kid cousin .. as I'm a Brit.

[AndyA]

4. By all means, let's open up federal lands to fracking--because it's safe and secures the country

Right?

What is wrong with someone who would support this? Obviously they have a mental condition that should prohibit them from serving in Congress.

[hrmjustin]

5. Bad bill. Hopefully it does not get through congress.

[Volaris]

6. as long as any particular set of State reglulations are MORE stringent than Federal ones,

I.E., the Federal set of shit you can and can't do is held as a MINIMUM standard of excellence, and say, Ohio thinks they want to do BETTER by all of us who own those Federally Public Lands, it would be fine with me.

But since I KNOW that this isn't going to be the case, well....yeah...whoever proposed this can fuck off. I don't live in West Virginia, but I'm kinda partial to their mountains actually having TOPS ON THEM..., kinda completes the mental image I have of them, ya'know?

[Divernan]

7. Easier for Big Frackers to bribe one state legislature/governor at a time.

From the OP link:

Consider the following:

Federal agencies are charged with balancing competing uses on federal lands and analyzing the potential effects on a range of resources. States usually have no such mandate.
State regulations, enforcement, staffing and funding levels vary widely.
The main focus of most state oil and gas commissions is on getting the minerals out of the ground and the makeup of commissions is typically heavily weighted toward industry.
While many state oil and gas agencies include the word “conservation” in their name, it doesn’t refer to “environmental protection,” as a recent E&E story noted. It refers to extracting all the oil and gas in an area before moving to another spot so the minerals aren’t wasted—“conserving” the petroleum resources.

[bvar22]

9. State Houses are WAY too easy to BUY.

Unfortunately, our Federal Government has proven itself easy to BUY also,
but not quite as easy as our State Houses.

That which belongs to ALL of us should not have to suffer from the predation
of The Locals.
Unfortunately the Privatization of Our Commons has been on going for about 30 years unabated by Republican & Democratic Administrations.

[font size=3]Nobody represents ALL-the-Rest-of-Us anymore.[/font]



[font color=firebrick][center]"There are forces within the Democratic Party who want us to sound like kinder, gentler Republicans.
I want a party that will STAND UP for Working Americans."
---Paul Wellstone [/font][/center] [center] [center] [/font]
[font size=1]photo by bvar22
Shortly before Sen Wellstone was killed[/center][/font][/center]


You will know them by their [font size=3]WORKS,[/font]


[font size=5 color=firebrick]Solidarity![/font]

[Ed Suspicious]

11. In WI ours is actively for sale. They paved the way with a law that allows no-bid sales of public

properties. It's a pukes wet dream in the cash strapped states.

[RoccoR5955]

10. They sure do need to update their fracking rules.

They need to BAN it!
It's not save, no way, no how, and never can be.
For one point, they don't know where the fractures in upper layers of rocks are, and whether or not gas or fracking fluids could lubricate these faults causing earthquakes, and/or migrate into the water table.

There are MANY factors of why this practice should be totally banned. I just mentioned one.

[theHandpuppet]

12. Ohio's plan for fracking in state forests

http://www.democraticunderground.com/112750694

[wordpix]

13. geesus - what a brazen land grab, these people need to be stopped

[locks]

14. Thanks for the post

We have loads of public lands in Colorado and some good legislators like Jared Polis fighting to protect them from fracking. How ironic that this awful bill is sponsored by a Colorado Rep, Doug Lamborn. Just follow the money flowing from oil and gas into Lamborn's pockets and you will see how he was elected.

[wordpix]

15. "fracking regulations, which are more than 30 years old" - really? Who was fracking 30 yrs. ago?

I thought it was a new technology

[Sunlei]

16. wow, less than 300 years and we've 'managed' to ruin a lot of 'pristine lands'.

Corps get to lease our public lands for $3 an acre, use all the water to frack.

Then have the Federal gov. declare drought disasters, not enough water to farm and we pay for the wildfire fighters.

Of course the DOI will still allow thousands of cattle to lease at $2 a month and rip the last roots out of the ground and wallow all day in the last wetspots.

[wordpix]

17. +1000, if Congress were really serious re: cutting the deficit, they'd charge modern lease fees &

not those based on 1800's lease prices

[formercia]

19. ...and make sure there is a Bond requirement

so any cleanup has at least a chance of getting done.