A proposal for federal regulations on the use of hydraulic fracturing in oil and gas development on federal land drew fire from Colorado, Utah and Wyoming officials at a congressional hearing in Denver on Wednesday.
The officials said state rules adequately oversee the process known as fracking, in which thousands or millions of gallons of fluid are pumped into wells to fracture rock to release oil and gas.
“There is no need for the federal government to step in and insert itself into a process that is working well,” said Kathleen Clarke, director of the Utah Office of Public Land Policy Coordination.
The officials testified at a hearing held by the House Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources at the Colorado Capitol.
The Department of the Interior is considering rules on disclosure of fracking fluid ingredients, management of fluids and wastewater. The Bureau of Land Management, which oversees oil and gas development on federal lands, has not issued any draft of rules.
Shawn Reese, policy director of the Wyoming governor’s office, said the oil and gas industry provides $2 billion in annual revenues to the state and accounts for 20 percent of state employment.
Reese said he was concerned that new federal rules would duplicate state regulation. “The states are more nimble in addressing issues that come up,” he said.
There are significant geological differences between oil and gas fields that are best addressed by states, said Colorado Rep. Jerry Sonnenberg, a Sterling Republican.
Tom Kerr, acting director of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, told the hearing that the state is constantly evaluating, upgrading and adding rules.
The states may be the right level for regulation, but they have to prove they can do the job, said Bruce Baizel, an attorney for the environmental group Earthworks.
Baizel said a review by his group found that in Texas, Colorado, New Mexico and Pennsylvania, the majority of operating wells are not annually inspected.
Less than a third of Colorado’s 47,000 wells are inspected annually, Baizel said. While 35 states have fracking regulations, only seven, including Colorado, have had independent audits to see whether they are adequate.
Mark Jaffe: 303-954-1912 or mjaffe@denverpost.com
