API slams BLM’s new rules on hydraulic fracturing

STEVEN MCGINN, News Editor

WASHINGTON, D.C -- New regulations on hydraulic fracturing on federal lands, issued Friday by the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management, will stifle energy growth and lead to costly delays, the American Petroleum Institute (API) said.

The BLM’s hydraulic fracturing rule imposes new costs and delays on energy development, without improving on existing state and federal regulations, the API said.

"Despite the renaissance on state and private lands, energy production on federal lands has fallen, and this rule is just one more barrier to growth," said Erik Milito, director of upstream and industry operations at the API.

"A duplicative layer of new federal regulation is unnecessary, and we urge the BLM to work carefully with the states to minimize costs and delays created by the new rule to ensure that public lands can still be a source of job creation and economic growth,” Milito said.

The API is a national trade association representing all facets of the oil and natural gas industry.