Wy. State Sen., Former House Speaker: State Regulators Best Equipped to Oversee Hydraulic Fracturing
As the groundswell of opposition to job-killing anti-hydraulic fracturing legislation in Congress builds both inside and outside Washington, state legislatures and county governments continue to speak out in a forceful, compelling way.
While a host of state governments have passed formal resolutions opposing the federal takeover of hydraulic fracturing regulation – a practice that has been applied for more than 60 years under stringent state regulation without a single incident of groundwater contamination – some individual legislators, who understand the catastrophic impact such legislation could have on jobs and energy production in their communities have been even more vocal.
State Senator Eli Bebout, a Wyoming Democrat-turned-Republican, former House speaker, and a man who knows a thing or two about producing energy, took to the pages of the Casper Star-Tribune this past week to make the case against a one-size-fits-all federal hydraulic fracturing regime.
Sen. Bebout’s column comes a few months after the Wyoming state legislature backed a joint-resolution requesting that Congress not pass legislation that would bring hydraulic fracturing under the federal government’s regulatory authority.
Key excerpts from Sen. Bebout’s column, entitled “Don’t federally regulate hydraulic fracturing“:
- In nearly 60 years of commercial use, not a single documented case of drinking water contamination has been credibly tied to hydraulic fracturing — even though more than a million wells have been “fracked” in that time.
- Aren’t our State Oil and Gas Conservation Commissions doing a good enough job of that already? Not according to lawmakers from Denver and New York, who haven’t been shy about questioning the commitment and even the competency of oil and gas regulators who happen to reside outside the D.C. offices of EPA.
- Thankfully, here in Wyoming, support for the tools we need to deliver affordable energy and good-paying jobs to the state generally isn’t a partisan affair. That’s why the Legislature came together recently in Cheyenne to pass a straightforward joint resolution — one that reiterates our support for the technology, and lays out the history of how Congress came to reject the notion of federal regulation over fracturing in the first place.
- The states are doing a good job and are willing to improve if necessary. Handing over this regulation to the EPA is unjustified and unnecessary and will cost America revenue, royalties, and jobs — to say nothing about exacerbating our dangerous and growing dependence on energy from unstable parts of the planet.
Sen. Bebout closes with this:
- As the current administration in Washington takes a close look at how it can help create new revenues and put American workers back on the job, it’d do well to take a look at the important role that hydraulic fracturing plays in delivering America’s clean-energy future. It would do even better to make sure it remains intact.
Marcellus Shale a Massive Job-Creator, Reports Continue to Confirm. Yesterday in PA, Today in NY.
With some policymakers focusing on slowing, or altogether halting, the production of clean-burning natural gas here in America, their claims and contentions continue to be proven false by the flurry of economic data and years of strong regulation and safety surrounding domestic energy production, particularly as it relates to hydraulic fracturing.
Commissioned by the Broome County, New York government, applied economics professors at the University of North Texas found that environmentally-sound, well-regulated natural gas production, through the use of hydraulic fracturing, could over the next decade create:
- $ 792 million in wages, salaries, and benefits;
- More than 16,000 new jobs; and
- More than $85 million in state and local tax revenues.
Local government officials, who understand the struggles facing their community, and the economic opportunity and job creation that is presented by safe energy development in the Marcellus Shale region have weighed in, too:
- Barbara Fiala, Broome County Executive: “Fiala says the millions of dollars in revenue the county could gain from drilling could be used to ease the burden of taxes on the county’s eroding tax base. … ‘This is a lot of revenue for New York State, not just Broome County. It’s additional revenue for the state.’”
- Darcy Fauci, Broome County Economic Development: “This is something that can truly infuse a lot of capital into our region.”
- Joe Sluzar, Broome County Attorney: “The drilling will have a ripple economic effect and everyone should benefit.”
Earlier this week, a report was issued by Penn State University that found natural gas production in the Marcellus Shale region, enabled by hydraulic fracturing, has generated:
- More than $240 million in state and local taxes for Pennsylvania last year;
- 29,000 good-paying jobs; and
- $2.3 billion in total economic development.
Importantly, the independent PSU academics – who determined that as many as 176,000 new jobs could be created in Pennsylvania over the next decade – described the anti-fracing DeGette-Casey as such:
- “There is little question that this type of legislation would accomplish little in terms of protecting potable freshwater but would be disastrous in terms of the domestic oil and gas industry, raise prices for gasoline and natural gas, and ultimately derail any efforts to address the need to reduce carbon emissions.”
Prospects and Economic Impacts of Developing the Marcellus Shale
NAM Blog Highlights Senate Hydraulic Fracturing Testimony, Role EID Playing in Getting Facts Out
Energy Policy, Refusing to Limit Opportunity
National Association of Manufacturers
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Following up on yesterday’s Senate EPW hearing on energy policy and the states, where North Dakota Gov. John Hoeven called for a comprehensive national energy strategy (see post), the good people at Energy in Depth pass on an exchange the governor had with Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK):
Key Excerpts From Yesterday’s U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Hearing
Dialogue starts at 101:50.
Click HERE to view.
U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK): “Governor Hoeven, the thing I was going to bring up is there’s a lot of discussion, when you talk about your offset capabilities there, and what you’re doing, that’s great. We’re doing somewhat the same thing, although most of ours is marginal production. But there is a, I’d suggest to you, the use of hydraulic fracturing is necessary in your state to be able to explore, to retrieve all these oil capabilities.”
Gov. John Hoeven (R-ND): “It’s absolutely vital. You know, you mention some of these new formations. They are not, uh, the oil isn’t connected. You’ve got to go underground. And you’re talking two miles underground. And make a fracture in order to get the oil to flow. That’s vitally important.”
U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK): “I wanted to get that into the record, because there are some efforts to do away with hydraulic fracturing, and it would be devastating.”
Just so. Energy in Depth has been a strong voice defending hydrofracturing technology, in which pressurized water is pumped in subterranium strata to make the oil or natural gas accessible via drilling. Without hydrofrac, development of the Bakken Formation oil as well as our vast natural gas resources in Texas (Barnett Shale) and Pennsylvania/New York/Ohio (Marcellus Shale) would be prohibitively expensive.
The activist group, ProPublica, has been leading a bizarre campaign against the widely accepted technology, and by offering its agenda-driven reporting for free has been successful in getting newspapers to publish the articles. Apparently if it’s gratis, editing is optional.
This is a telling observation from an Energy in Depth rebuttal, which explains why we refer to ProPublica as an activist outlet, not a journalistic venture, “Separating Fiction from Invention in ProPublica’s Latest Anti-HF Attack Piece“:
Earlier this week, ProPublica author Abrahm Lustgarten released the latest installment in his series of advocacy pieces attacking the commonly used energy technology known as hydraulic fracturing. Instead of simply running on the ProPublica blog and website, however, the article was co-published with Politico and appeared in the paper’s news section (a letter to the editor from Energy In Depth policy director Lee Fuller will appear in the paper this Tuesday).
It wasn’t the first time that a mainstream news outlet provided ProPublica with a platform for this kind of product – although, for papers such as the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the determination has been made that ProPublica articles, when run, are more appropriately filed on its “opinion/perspectives” page than as part of its straight-news reporting.
Prior to its release, Energy In Depth spoke at length with Mr. Lustgarten about the direction of the (presumably already written) piece and the myriad mistakes he was making in issuing a blanket indictment of recent government and third-party reports finding that EPA regulation of hydraulic fracturing would cost Americans jobs, revenues and future security.
Regrettably, none of those explanations made it into his final piece.
And regrettably, ProPublica appears to be a model for future journalistic ventures.
As previously noted, this blogger once worked for Gov. John Hoeven. But it’s been eight years now.
NOTE: Click HERE to view this post. Also, click HERE and HERE to view the Energy In Depth posts referenced above.
Key Excerpts From Yesterday’s U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Hearing
Dialogue starts at 101:50.
Click HERE to view.
U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK): “Governor Hoeven, the thing I was going to bring up is there’s a lot of discussion, when you talk about your offset capabilities there, and what you’re doing, that’s great. We’re doing somewhat the same thing, although most of ours is marginal production. But there is a, I’d suggest to you, the use of hydraulic fracturing is necessary in your state to be able to explore, to retrieve all these oil capabilities.”
Gov. John Hoeven (R-ND): “It’s absolutely vital. You know, you mention some of these new formations. They are not, uh, the oil isn’t connected. You’ve got to go underground. And you’re talking two miles underground. And make a fracture in order to get the oil to flow. That’s vitally important.”
U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK): “I wanted to get that into the record, because there are some efforts to do away with hydraulic fracturing, and it would be devastating.”
Boren doesn’t like costly House bills on energy, health
Randy Krehbiel
July 21, 2009
In response to a question, Boren said he is working with Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., to tone down her bill to regulate hydraulic fracturing of oil- and gas-bearing formations.
The legislation was introduced to protect water supplies from the contamination, but Boren said the procedure is already safe.
U.S. Rep. Dan Boren unhappy with health care, energy proposals
Randy Krehbiel
July 21, 2009
On energy, Boren said, “The cap and trade bill is really the worst piece of legislation I’ve seen since I’ve been there. It raises energy prices on businesses, raises electric bills on families, and it even raises gasoline prices in the middle of a recession. And, it makes America less competitive in the global economy.”
“If you shut down fracking, you shut down the industry,” Boren said.
Concerns Over Legislation in Oil-Producing States
Lisa Call
July 17, 2009
Fracking could become more prevalent in North Dakota due to the oil industry’s increased interest and aspirations for the Bakken and Three Forks-Sanish oil formations.
“That bill would be a disaster for us,” Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D. said. “Hydraulic fracturing is a very important part of being able to explore and drill for oil in the Bakken formation.”
“The bill is potentially very threatening to the oil exploration and recovery activity underway in North Dakota,” [Rep. Earl] Pomeroy [D-N.D.] said. “It’s one of these pieces of legislation that is a solution in search of a problem.”
While Energy In Depth continues to take our message of responsible, well-regulated, and environmentally-sound energy production directly to policymakers, many elected officials, at both the state and federal level, continue to speak out on the critical issue of hydraulic fracturing, too.
Congressman Dan Boren (D-OK) was asked yesterday about anti-hydraulic fracturing legislation coauthored by Congresswoman Dianna DeGette (D-CO) and Senator Bob Casey (D-PA). Boren, who serves on the House Natural Resources Committee and represents Oklahoma’s energy-rich eastern border, was unequivocal in his response, which was reported by The Oklahoman and The Tulsa World.
- “In response to a question, Boren said he is working with Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., to tone down her bill to regulate hydraulic fracturing of oil- and gas-bearing formations. The legislation was introduced to protect water supplies from contamination, but Boren said the procedure is already safe.“
- “‘If you shut down fracking, you shut down the industry,’ Boren said.”
And in Texas, Railroad Commissioner Elizabeth Ames Jones – who directs the state agency tasked with regulating oil and gas production – took the pages of the Southeast Texas Record to highlight the importance domestic natural gas production will play in advancing America’s energy objectives.
- “Technology developed by visionaries, not inside-the-beltway, so-called experts, has paved the way for responsible production of this clean burning fuel. Drilling for natural gas found in places once deemed unreachable is now common place across the country. In fact, America is so rich in natural gas that with the sound management of the fields that is occurring today, our country could produce almost as much clean energy as we consume … if we wanted to.”
Exhibit A: Energy In Depth Takes Pro-Jobs, Pro-Energy Message to Legislators’ Conference in PA
