In a blow to President Barack Obama’s climate initiatives, a federal judge has ruled the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) fracking regulations sidestepped Congress and are invalid, according to an order signed June 21.

The rules, decried by the oil and gas industry as needless, would have placed additional regulations on hydraulic fracturing of federal and Indian lands.

U.S. District Judge Scott W. Skavdahl, an Obama appointee based in Cheyenne, Wyo., said the BLM lacks congressional authority to make regulations regarding hydraulic fracturing.

The BLM had argued a variety of acts passed in prior years made the fracking rule a supplement to its existing requirements for oil and gas operations.

Skavdahl zeroed in on that argument and whether the Obama administration’s agency had created regulations inconsistent with what Congress had enacted into law.

Historically, the BLM had only regulated hydraulic fracturing to prevent surface disturbances and had not regulated the fracturing process itself, he said.

“Congress has not directed the BLM to enact regulations governing hydraulic fracturing,” Skavdahl wrote in his ruling. “Indeed, Congress has expressly removed federal agency authority to regulate the activity, making its intent clear.”

Skavdahl went further, saying that if he were to accept the BLM’s argument, “there would be no limit to the scope or extent of congressionally delegated authority BLM has, regardless of topic or subject matter.”

Industry organizations and prominent political figures welcomed the ruling.

U.S. House Majority Leader Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said that fracking has brought a resurgence of oil and natural gas production and created tens of thousands of jobs.

“The Obama administration has sought to regulate it out of existence,” Ryan said on his website. “This is not only harmful for the economy and consumers, it’s unlawful—as the court has just ruled. I’ll say it again: ‘only Congress can write laws.’ Agencies acting without authority from Congress is simply illegal.”

The Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) and Western Energy Alliance filed a lawsuit in March 2015 challenging the federal rule, which was later joined by Colorado, North Dakota, Utah, Wyoming, and the Ute Indian Tribe.

IPAA president and CEO Barry Russell said federal regulation is unnecessary, in many cases redundant and that a one size fits all approach is inappropriate.

“We recognize that every energy-producing area has different needs and requirements, which is why the states are far more effective at properly regulating hydraulic fracturing than the federal government,” Russell said. “And many of these states have modernized their regulations within the last 10 years.”

Russell said the IPAA welcomes the ruling to set aside the Interior Department’s final rule “as it does not have congressional authority to police this already strictly-regulated practice.”

Mark Barron, an attorney for BakerHostetler representing IPAA and Western EnergyAlliance, said that from the outset the fracking rule “has been a solution in search of a problem.”

“BLM attempted to promulgate a rule that imposed needless costs on America’s small businesses and public treasuries, without any commensurate environmental benefit,” he said. “We are pleased that the district court recognized such a rule could not be implemented within the bounds of BLM’s statutory authority.”

By executive order in April 2012, Obama created an interagency working group to support safe and responsible development of unconventional domestic natural gas.

“The federal government has an important role to play by regulating oil and gas activities on public and Indian trust lands, encouraging greater use of natural gas in transportation, supporting research and development aimed at improving the safety of natural gas development and transportation activities,” Obama said, “and setting sensible, cost-effective public health and environmental standards to implement federal law and augment state safeguards.”

Skavdahl had put the rules on hold a year ago to weigh requests from energy industry groups and several states to stop them from being implemented, Reuters reported. He then issued a preliminary injunction against the rules in September.

The government’s appeal of last year’s injunction is pending at the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Darren Barbee can be reached at dbarbee@hartenergy.com.