Another Government Solution In Search Of A Problem

Reuters is reporting through Rigzone:

U.S. oil and gas drillers must get permits to use a range of diesel fuels in hydraulic fracturing, the U.S. environment regulator said on Tuesday, in its first clarification of laws restricting the use of the fuel considered harmful to water supplies. The 2005 Energy Policy Act signed by then-President George W. Bush contained a provision limiting federal regulation of fracking under safe drinking water law unless drillers were using diesel in fracking fluids.

Well, that's good, about time.

Diesel has pretty much been phased out, according to the industry.

An energy industry group said the EPA move does not have much impact because drillers have already slashed use of diesel fuel voluntarily.

"This appears to be a solution in search of a problem: Based on actual industry practices, diesel fuel use has already been effectively phased out of hydraulic fracturing operations," Lee Fuller, a government relations official with the Independent Petroleum Association of America, said in a release.

Meanwhile, slicers and dicers (wind turbines) can still kill golden eagles, bald eagles, whooping cranes, and migratory ducks with impunity and immunity.