Governor Says Wyoming Rules for Hydraulic Fracturing Should Lead
4/13/2012
OFFICE OF GOVERNOR MATT MEAD
State Capitol
Cheyenne, WY 82002
Ph. (307) 777-7437
April 13, 2012
******FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE******
Contact:
Renny MacKay
Communications Director
renny.mackay@wyo.gov
Governor Says Wyoming Rules for Hydraulic Fracturing Should Lead
CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Governor Matt Mead underscored Wyoming’s first in the nation rules for hydraulic fracturing are based on sound science and protect public health, safety and the environment. According to Governor Mead this is why the Bureau of Land Management’s proposed rules for hydraulic fracturing are unnecessary and unreasonable.
In a letter to Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, Governor Mead wrote, “I have heard no concern from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) about the adequacy of Wyoming’s regulatory structure. It is troubling, then, to learn that the BLM has drafted similar rules pertaining to hydraulic fracturing for oil and natural gas production… I am concerned that the proposed rules will duplicate and possibly be sequential to Wyoming’s rules.”
Governor Mead points out that the proposed rules seem to go against President Obama’s Executive Order 13563. That Order requires the least burdensome tools for achieving regulatory ends and the promotion of predictability and certainty. “The BLM’s exercise to regulate what is already state-regulated does not meet the letter or the spirit of the President’s Order.”
Governor Mead recommended that the BLM not duplicate Wyoming’s regulations and defer to states, like Wyoming, which adequately and effectively manage hydraulic fracturing.
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