BLM Announces Final Rule for Hydraulic Fracturing on Federal and Indian Lands
Today the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced the release of a highly-anticipated final rule addressing hydraulic fracturing on millions of acres of Federal and Indian lands. According to BLM, there are more than 100,000 oil and gas wells on federally-managed lands, and more than 90 percent of wells currently being drilled use hydraulic fracturing. This rulemaking supplements existing BLM requirements for oil and gas operations and now requires, for example, the disclosure of hydraulic fracturing fluid information within 30 days of completing fracturing operations for each well. The agency reportedly received more than 1.5 million public comments during the rulemaking process. The final rule will be effective 90 days after it is published in the Federal Register.