A federal court on Wednesday delayed oral arguments in an appeal by the Obama administration to reinstate fracking rules on federal lands that a lower court had voided before they went into effect.
The decision by the Denver-based 10th Circuit Court of Appeals to push back arguments from Jan. 17 to March 20 means the Trump administration will manage the federal government’s appeal in the case.
Based on President-elect Trump’s agenda of removing regulations to encourage fracking and fossil fuel development, he may decide to pull the appeal and let the prior court ruling stand.
The regulations were developed and implemented by the Interior Department to regulate hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, on federal lands. Fracking is a method used to extract oil and natural gas from shale rock deep under the ground by injecting large amounts of water mixed with sand to break up the stone and release the fossil fuels. The process has made the U.S. a top producer of oil and natural gas globally.
A group of states sued the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management over its 2015 fracking regulations. A federal judge in Wyoming overturned the regulations, saying the rules are illegal under a 2005 law that said fracking cannot be regulated on federal lands.
Obama administration lawyers saw the ruling as “wholly unprecedented and manifestly incorrect.” They appealed the ruling in June.
