Interior Department announces plan to gut federal fracking regulations

The Interior Department announced plans Monday to obliterate the Obama administration’s hotly contested regulations over hydraulic fracturing on federal land.

The proposed repeal, slated to be published Tuesday in the Federal Register, said that the 2015 final rule was “unnecessarily duplicative of state and some tribal regulations” and imposed “burdensome reporting requirements and other unjustified costs on the oil and gas industry.”

House Natural Resources Committee chairman Rob Bishop, Utah Republican and a staunch critic of the regulations, praised Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke for the move.

“I applaud Secretary Zinke and his team for their work in returning the Department, its sub-agencies and bureaus to their core statutory functions,” said Mr. Bishop in a statement. “Taking this job-killing federal regulatory overreach off the books is an important step in this process.”

The proposed repeal comes with the Obama administration’s fracking regulations yet to go into effect as a result of legal challenges filed by four states, two energy trade associations, and the Ute Tribe.

In June 2016, a federal judge in Wyoming struck down the rule, finding that the Bureau of Land Management had overstepped its authority by acting without congressional approval.

The Obama administration, joined by a number of environmental groups, appealed the decision before President Trump took office in January.

Earthjustice blasted the timing of the Federal Register filing, pointing out that the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is scheduled to hear oral argument in the case Thursday.

“This is another cynical move by the Trump administration that sacrifices our public lands and public safety as a favor to the oil and gas industry,” said Earthjustice attorney Michael Freeman, who represents environmental groups fighting to uphold the rule, in a statement.

Earthjustice represents the Sierra Club, Wilderness Society, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, Western Resources Advocates, Earthworks and Conservation Colorado Education Fund.

“The timing of this proposal is obviously linked to this week’s oral argument,” Mr. Freeman said. “It is part of the administration’s effort to circumvent the law by asking to stay this appeal while leaving the lower court ruling in effect. We oppose that request, and we’ll see the agency in court Thursday morning.”

The Justice Department revealed in a March court filing that the rule had been targeted for repeal, citing the White House’s February directive on reducing regulations that are “unnecessary, burdensome and harmful to the economy.”

The proposed repeal was issued by the Bureau of Land Management.