People in Washington still attempt to conjure up a problem that hasn’t been evidenced in six decades to justify seizures of more powers from local and state governments.
Agencies are looking at everything from groundwater pollution to earthquakes risks, trying to figure out a creative new way to squeeze the federal government’s camel nose under the tent of a world-changing energy revolution.
Fracking is largely responsible for a new natural gas miracle.
But if the federal government is successful in these power grabs, that miracle will likely end, representing a disastrous loss of economic and job opportunities, not only for the states containing that great resource treasure, but for the entire nation.
The Department of Interior which controls permits for drilling on federal onshore lands and the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) is also exerting a big influence upon fracking operations.
To give you an idea how difficult it is to get federal government land permitting approval versus states, consider the difference in time schedules.
Under the Obama administration, the time required for a permit has doubled to 307 days, while in North Dakota, where booming oil shale fracking has effectively wiped out unemployment, permitting currently takes only 10 days.
There should be no wonder that all of the states that regulate permitting are fighting efforts of the government to interfere.
Texas, for example, which has permitted more wells than any other state, has more real knowledge about the geology, hydrology, and impacts of oil and gas development than the federal government will ever gain.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/larrybell/2013/03/03/obamas-war-on-drilling-oil-surplus-not-scarcity-is-the-new-regulatory-excuse/
Agencies are looking at everything from groundwater pollution to earthquakes risks, trying to figure out a creative new way to squeeze the federal government’s camel nose under the tent of a world-changing energy revolution.
Fracking is largely responsible for a new natural gas miracle.
But if the federal government is successful in these power grabs, that miracle will likely end, representing a disastrous loss of economic and job opportunities, not only for the states containing that great resource treasure, but for the entire nation.
The Department of Interior which controls permits for drilling on federal onshore lands and the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) is also exerting a big influence upon fracking operations.
To give you an idea how difficult it is to get federal government land permitting approval versus states, consider the difference in time schedules.
Under the Obama administration, the time required for a permit has doubled to 307 days, while in North Dakota, where booming oil shale fracking has effectively wiped out unemployment, permitting currently takes only 10 days.
There should be no wonder that all of the states that regulate permitting are fighting efforts of the government to interfere.
Texas, for example, which has permitted more wells than any other state, has more real knowledge about the geology, hydrology, and impacts of oil and gas development than the federal government will ever gain.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/larrybell/2013/03/03/obamas-war-on-drilling-oil-surplus-not-scarcity-is-the-new-regulatory-excuse/
