Thursday, May 09, 2013

Democrat says Obama caved to industry on fracking rule

Rep. Rush Holt of New Jersey, the ranking Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee's Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee, criticized President Obama Wednesday, saying he caved under industry pressure by submitting a proposal that weakens regulations of hydraulic fracturing on public land, reports Mike Soraghan of Environment and Energy News. 

"The proposed fracking rule is intended to update rules for oil and gas drilling on federal land by requiring disclosure of the chemicals that companies inject underground, bolstering standards for ensuring that wells do not leak and requiring that wastewater is properly managed," reports Soraghan.

Interior Secretary Sally Jewell denied Holt's accusations, "telling reporters this week that industry pressure had nothing to with the significant changes to the rule that surfaced earlier this year," Soraghan reports. We wrote here about the deal reached between hydraulic fracturing companies and environmentalists.

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