The US Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management released today its today issued its new rules on shale gas fracturing applicable to on-shore Federal lands, and thus covering roughly 23 percent of total US shale gas production. Key provisions of the rules, which come into effect in 90 days relate to:
- Ensuring the protection of groundwater supplies by requiring a validation of well integrity and strong cement barriers between the wellbore and water zones through which the wellbore passes;
- Increased transparency by requiring companies to publicly disclose chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing to the Bureau of Land Management through the website FracFocus, within 30 days of completing fracturing operations;
- Higher standards for interim storage of recovered waste fluids from hydraulic fracturing to mitigate risks to air, water and wildlife;
- Measures to lower the risk of cross-well contamination with chemicals and fluids used in the fracturing operation, by requiring companies to submit more detailed information on the geology, depth, and location of preexisting wells to afford the BLM an opportunity to better evaluate and manage unique site characteristics.
The drafting of the rules took more than five years from the first draft to the final version; several regional forums, stakeholder meetings and a public consultation with the result of 1.5million comments were carried out. Even if only applicable to public federal land, these rules will have a big impact on on-ground management and set a new standard for US shale gas regulation, maybe emanating to other forms of land.
FRacturing law blOG 