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Congressman Bob Latta (R-Bowling Green) led a letter with 19 of his colleagues to Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell urging the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to consider existing state programs and regulations of hydraulic fracturing rather than duplicative federal regulations. The letter was sent in response to BLM’s Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding hydraulic fracturing on Federal and Indian lands.

“Ohio has set a high standard of state regulation with regard to hydraulic fracturing. A federal one-size-fits-all approach could jeopardize access to large volumes of natural gas and hinder its expected job creation. Ohio state regulators know the natural resources in the state, and they know the local geology, geography and production characteristics, making them the better choice to manage and regulate local energy producers than distant federal bureaucrats,” said Latta.

In May of 2013, the BLM released its supplemental proposed rule for regulating hydraulic fracturing on Federal and Indian lands in response to public comments from an original proposal it issued a year earlier. While the supplemental proposal takes a step towards protecting the role of state regulations with hydraulic fracturing, numerous stakeholder concerns, especially regarding the rule’s duplication of state regulations remain.

“Oil and natural gas producing states have a proven track record of success when it comes to the development of oil and gas through hydraulic fracturing,” the letter reads.

Click here to view full text of the letter.

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