The Obama administration’s new fracking regulations were attacked in an oil industry lawsuit as lacking scientific and engineering evidence to support them.
The Independent Petroleum Association of America contends regulations issued Friday are based on “unsubstantiated concerns” and asked a federal judge in Cheyenne, Wyoming, to rule them invalid. The new rules don’t take effect for at least 90 days.
The rules require those drilling on federal lands to reveal the chemicals they use, meet well construction standards and safely dispose of contaminated water. Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, injects the high-pressure water and chemicals to free oil and natural gas from underground deposits.
Mark Barron, a Denver-based lawyer for the Independent Petroleum Association, said the group may ask for an order blocking the rules from taking effect after it has reviewed them in detail.
The Washington-based association named the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and Interior Secretary Sally Jewell as defendants in its case. Jeff Krauss, a Bureau of Land Management spokesman, declined to comment on the group’s claims and referred questions to the Interior Department.
Peter Carr, a Justice Department spokesman, didn’t immediately reply to a phone message seeking comment.
The petroleum association said Friday in a statement that its members are responsible for 95 percent of the oil and natural gas wells drilled in the U.S.
The case is Independent Petroleum Association of America v. Jewell, 15-cv-00041, U.S. District Court, District of Wyoming (Cheyenne)
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