The Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) and Western Energy Alliance on Dec. 28 applauded the Department of the Interior’s decision to repeal an Obama-era federal rule on hydraulic fracturing on federal lands.

“We applaud the Interior Department decision to completely rescind the Obama-era rule regulating hydraulic fracturing on federal lands,” said Barry Russell, president and CEO of the Independent Petroleum Association of America. “IPAA has long fought for independent oil and natural gas producers against an Obama-era federal rule that was overly restrictive and did not make hydraulic fracturing any safer than current state laws. The rescinding of this burdensome rule, which was never enacted due to IPAA and Western Energy Alliance’s ongoing legal challenge, will save our member companies and those operating on federal lands hundreds of millions of dollars in compliance costs without any corresponding safety benefits. We are pleased that the over five year-long process can now come to a favorable close as states continue to be in the best position to safely regulate hydraulic fracturing activities on their lands.”

“IPAA and Western Energy Alliance have been working together to prevent this overreaching rule from going into effect ever since the first draft was released in 2010,” said Kathleen Sgamma, president of Western Energy Alliance. “It was clear from the start that the federal rule was redundant with state regulation and politically motivated, as the prior administration could not point to one incident or regulatory gap that justified the rule. Western Energy Alliance appreciates that BLM under Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke understands this rule was duplicative and has rescinded it. States have an exemplary safety record regulating fracking, and that environmental protection will continue as before.”