The Obama administration is seeking to reverse a Wyoming district court’s injunction blocking the first regulations imposed on oil and gas producers that use fracking.
Justice Department lawyers filed with the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver Thursday evening in an attempt to lift the Wyoming court’s September ruling. The injunction has kept the Interior Department from enforcing its regulations while the court reviews the merits of state and industry lawsuits opposing the regulations.
The administration’s notice of appeal says only that Secretary of Interior Sally Jewell, and her agency’s Bureau of Land Management Director Neil Kornze, are appealing the Sept. 30 injunction.
Neal Kirby, spokesman for the Independent Petroleum Association of America, which is suing over the rules, told the Washington Examiner that the industry “has long said that the federal government’s efforts are duplicative and not needed, given that states are – and have for over 60 years been – in the best position to safely regulate hydraulic fracturing. BLM’s rule is far-reaching and it has not shown a compelling case that necessitates this rule, nor any specific risk this rule would reduce.”
In September, the district court of Wyoming agreed with states’ arguments that Interior’s actions raise questions about federal overreach in regulating fracking, which uses water and sand to extract fossil fuels from shale rock formations deep underground.
“At this point, the court does not believe Congress has granted or delegated to the [Bureau of Land Management] authority to regulate fracking,” Judge Scott Skavdahl wrote. “It is hard to analytically conclude or infer that, having expressly removed the regulatory authority from the EPA, Congress intended to vest it in the BLM, particularly where the BLM had not previously been regulating the practice.”
The regulations went into effect in March and have been staunchly opposed by Republicans as an example of federal overreach.
The rules govern the design of wells and the disposal of wastewater used in fracking, while requiring companies to disclose the chemicals used in the fracking process. North Dakota, Colorado, Utah and Wyoming, in addition to industry groups, sued the agency over the rule.
Republicans had come out in support of the district court’s decision.
