WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) welcomed Wyoming Oil and Gas Supervisor Mark Watson before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forests, and Mining. Senator Barrasso, who chairs the subcommittee, invited Supervisor Mark Watson to testify about the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) final hydraulic fracturing rule.
“In Wyoming, about 47 percent of the surface estate and 67 percent of the mineral estate is owned by the federal government. This means that decisions made in Washington have an extraordinary impact on the people of Wyoming,” said Barrasso. “It’s hard to find someone who understands this reality more than Wyoming’s Oil and Gas Supervisor Mark Watson. I want to thank him for sharing his firsthand experiences with our committee today.”
In his opening statement, Barrasso talked about how the BLM’s hydraulic fracturing rule and other rules, will put federal lands and the West at an even greater competitive disadvantage to other areas of the country when it comes to energy and mineral production.
“I continue to believe that BLM’s rule is a solution in search of a problem. Wyoming has among the strictest hydraulic fracturing regulations in the country,” said Barrasso. “Oil and gas production provides thousands of good-paying jobs in the West. They are jobs that can support an entire family and allow parents to send their kids to college. If BLM wants to be a good neighbor to the people of Wyoming and other western states, I think it must not only listen to their concerns, but be responsive to them.”
Wyoming Oil and Gas Supervisor Mark Watson highlighted how Wyoming was one of the first states to implement comprehensive rules on hydraulic fracturing, and these rules have been enforced on all state, private and federal minerals since 2010.
“We were the first state to require disclosure of all chemicals used in the fracking process prior to issuing a permit. In fact, Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewel often cites Wyoming’s rules on fracking as a standard for other states to follow,” said Watson. “Recently the Bureau of Land Management announced a new rule on fracking. Not only does this rule come late, it adopts a one-size-fits-all approach. It creates confusion and bureaucracy in an already complex process. It will inevitably lead to delays in the permitting process for operators without increasing environmental protection or providing more information for the public to review.”
Oil and Gas Supervisor Watson also discussed the BLM’s attempt to give states who already have comprehensive fracking rules in place an opportunity to apply for a “variance” from the rule.
“The BLM, in an attempt to address those concerns, included a section in the final rule allowing for states to apply for a variance for all wells within the state,” said Watson. “However, upon further review and meetings with BLM officials in Wyoming, it became apparent that the variance was simply a requirement that allowed the BLM to require additional information if the state’s requirements exceeded those objectives of the BLM frack rule. In other words, it was a variance for the federal government. The goal being that both the state and the BLM would receive the same package of information. This is clearly a duplication of effort that forces operators to comply with two regulatory agencies.”
You can listen to Mr. Watson’s entire Committee statement here and Senator Barrasso’s statement here. To watch video of the entire hearing, please click here.