BLM Extends Comment Period For Another 60 Days -- Fracking -- The Tea Leaves Are Swirling

Oil and Gas Journal is reporting:

Oil and gas producers will have another 60 days to comment on the US Bureau of Land Management’s latest proposed regulations for hydraulic fracturing operations on onshore public lands, US Interior Secretary Sally Jewell announced.

“Thousands of comments have been made on the proposed hydraulic fracturing rule,” she told the US Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. “Many which responded to the original proposal led us to revise it and issue a second one. I’m announcing now that we’re going to give people an extra 60 days to comment on the latest proposal.”

The secretary said improving federal oil and gas permit application processing remains a top priority, but progress will be limited because of ongoing federal budget sequestration impacts.

“We want to bring the lessons we learned offshore onshore,” Jewell said. “There’s a need to streamline the permitting process. These formations cross state lines. Unfortunately, sequestration is forcing us to limit activity in offices where there’s the greatest need. We are trying to address this.”

Sequestration also is preventing DOI from sharing onshore federal oil and gas revenue with states where such activity is located, she continued. “We appreciate the importance of this to the states, but we are required to comply with the law,” she said.

The tea leaves are swirling.