It’s Begun: More Fracking Flares on the Horizon as House Overturns Methane Emission Rule
(EnviroNews USA Headline News Desk) — Washington D.C. — On February 3, 2017, the Republican-dominated House of Representatives passed a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution to abolish the Department of Interior’s (DOI), Bureau of Land Management (BLM) methane venting and flaring rule — a law implemented in November of 2016 under the Obama Administration, intended to put a lid on harmful oilfield emissions on federal lands in an effort to combat climate change.
Legislators voted 221-191 to kill the rule, which was finalized last November. It wasn’t a hard party-line vote though, as three Democrats also defected and voted for repeal, while 11 Republicans voted to keep it in place. The bill will now move to the Senate where, if passed, it will head to President Trump’s desk. If the President then signs off, the rule would be officially abolished.
The House passage comes on the heels of several other resolutions this week that aim to roll back other environmental regulations, including one passed yesterday allowing coal companies to dump debris into streams and waterways. Another bill passed this week lifts a law requiring oil companies to disclose financial dealings with foreign governments.
Republicans argued the current methane rule is costing industry a billion dollars a year, as well as creating a loss in tax revenue for the states, while Democrats stood up for the climate, and also argued excessive gas flaring exacerbates the formation of ground-level ozone and subsequent health problems.
Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah), Chairman of the Natural Resource Committee said, “It is a costly rule and a totally unnecessary rule.”
“[The rule] is a win for the taxpayer, a win for the environment, a win for the climate and a win for common sense,” stated Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D-Calif.).
Democrats also contended the rule is beneficial because it cuts air pollution and health-related medical externalities, while actually putting more natural gas available on the market.
“You don’t have to support the methane waste rule to see why repealing it using the Congressional Review Act will only make the problem worse,” Ryan Alexander, President of Taxpayers for Common Sense, said this week. “Taxpayers have been losing millions every year from wasted gas thanks to outdated, ineffective rules. A vote to repeal the methane rule is a vote to make the old rules permanent, which would be a disaster for taxpayers.”
In heavy oil-producing areas like North Dakota, Utah and Wyoming, natural gas is often burned as CO2, or worse yet, vented straight into the atmosphere, because in many rural areas, the gas pipeline infrastructure is frequently not available to easily get the product to processors. However, it can still be captured and shipped, even when pipeline infrastructure is not available, though it’s more cumbersome and costly to do so. With the cheap price of natural gas, many operators prefer to just capture the crude oil and dump the natural gas directly into the environment, instead of capturing it. And it’s this practice the Obama Administration rule clamps down on.
The rule not only limits flaring, it also cracks down on leaky oil and gas wells on federal land — a huge problem that has jumped onto the radar screen in recent years. While for years the EPA has essentially pinned its numbers to those of the oil industry regarding the total amount of methane escape from oilfields (1%), multiple studies conducted in recent years have demonstrated that methane leakage is far beyond one percent nearly all of America’s oilfields.
To demonstrate this, in June of 2014, EnviroNews went out on an oil well with an American whistle-blowing oil and gas CEO with air monitoring equipment, in a telling episode that showed nearly every juncture on the antiquated oil-well was indeed leaking methane, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) or both.
MORE EXCELLENT FRACKING STORIES FROM ENVIRONEWS
Take a Walk on a Leaky Uintah Basin Oil Well With a Whistleblowing Oil and Gas CEO
(EnviroNews DC News Bureau) – Vernal – Good evening. I’m Heather Murdock reporting to you on EnviroNews USA tonight from Los Angeles, in an absolutely packed episode that is sure to be a shocker for those concerned about air quality, climate change and human health. In response to…
Oklahoma’s Fracking Industry Just Caused The Largest Manmade Earthquake in US History
(EnviroNews World News) – Pawnee, Oklahoma – A major earthquake, caused by the underground disposal of fracking wastewater, rattled north-central Oklahoma on the morning of September 3, 2016. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said the event occurred at 8:02 a.m. EST and measured 5.6 on the Richter scale….
North American Oil and Gas CEO Comes Out Against Fracking: “Governor Cuomo, Please Don’t Do It!”
(EnviroNews DC News Bureau) – From deep within the frozen heart of oil and gas turf, we bring you a story so sensitive that even our reporter remains anonymous, at least for now. In this exclusive report we listen to the words of a lifelong oil industry worker…
Huge Fracking Deal: Republican Lawmakers Lead Charge To Ban Fracking in Florida
(EnviroNews USA Headline News Desk) – Tallahassee, Florida – Seven Florida legislators introduced a bipartisan bill (SB 442) to ban fracking in the Sunshine State on January 24, 2017. Sen. Dana Young, (R-Tampa) filed the new proposal alongside Senators Keith Perry (R-Gainesville), Jack Latvala (R-Clearwater), Linda Stewart (D-Orlando),…
More Bans on Fracking Bans as ALEC-Driven State Power-Grabs Over Local Oil & Gas Rules Continue
(EnviroNews World News) – Well, it’s happened again – this time in the Sooner State of Oklahoma. It would appear that big oil with its limitless financial lobby power is afraid – shaking in its boots at the prospect of local cities and municipalities saying “hell no” to…
Frackquake Madness! – 35 Fracking Earthquakes Rock Oklahoma in a Week – Regulators Call Event a ‘Game Changer’
(EnviroNews World News) – Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – Historically speaking, Oklahoma used to be a place where almost no palpable earthquakes happened at all – but hydraulic fracturing, a.k.a. “fracking” has changed all that now. Between the dates June 17 and June 24, 2015, Oklahoma was jolted by…
Video: ‘You’re not going to get my vote!’ – Bernie Sanders Blasts Trump’s EPA Pick Over Fracking Earthquakes
(EnviroNews USA Headline News Desk) – Washington D.C. – During Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt’s Senate confirmation hearings for nominee of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Bernie Sanders asked him to discuss his response to earthquakes caused by fracking wastewater injection in Oklahoma. CNN reports that scientists from…
Denton Protesters in Showdown With Big Oil Over Ban on Fracking Bans – 6 Arrested
(EnviroNews World News) – Denton, Texas – Three were arrested Monday, and another three today as protestors chained themselves to the entrance of fracking wells near Denton. The city is also known for being the birthplace of modern-day fracking – but earlier this year, citizens of that town…
More Earthquakes Rattle Alberta – Experts, Regulators Say Fracking to Blame
(EnviroNews World News) – Fox Creek, Alberta – More earthquakes have rattled Alberta, Canada, “from Fox Creek to Peace River [according to] experts and regulators,” The Tyee has reported, and those quakes were man-caused. What’s more, according to those same Alberta regulators, the seismic events were set off…
How Participating With Fracking or Drilling, Voluntarily or Forced, Could Put You in Mortgage Default
(EnviroNews Idaho) – Boise – Nearly 98,000 acres have been leased by the state of Idaho for oil and gas drilling within the past two years. Many of those acres are sprawled across the same five counties Umpqua Bank Mortgage Loan Officer Kevin Spencer does business in. With…
Erin Brockovich Weighs in on Fracking and Gives Praise to GasLand the Movie
(EnviroNews California) – Los Angeles – Erin Brockovich is a people’s champion when it comes to battling against big industrial polluters who contaminate and poison groundwater, so much so that they even made a Hollywood movie showcasing her first amazing success story in Hinckley, California. The movie, ‘Erin…
In Bold Move, Gov. Andrew Cuomo Bans Fracking in New York State
(EnviroNews New York) – Albany, New York – “Simply don’t do it,” was the advice from a masked informant to EnviroNews two years ago. The 20-year veteran Oil CEO spoke these words to viewers and to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D). It would look as if the…
Oil Company VP/Ex-Halliburton Fracking Lobbyist Assaults EnviroNews Chief Outside Public Meeting
(EnviroNews Idaho) – Payette, Idaho – “I’ll do whatever I want” and “fuck you” were the responses from one of the nation’s top oil and gas industry attorneys when asked not to touch a news camera. The incident occurred in the hallway of the Payette County Courthouse in…
New Stanford Study Links Fracking to Drinking Water Contamination in Pavillion, WY (Again)
(EnviroNews Wyoming) – Pavillion, Wyoming – A new study published on March 29, 2016, by authors from Stanford University, has linked the practice of hydraulic fracturing, a.k.a. “fracking,” to pollution of underground sources of drinking water (USDW) in Pavillion, Wyoming – a connection those same researchers say is…
STUDY: U.S. Fracking Boom Has Increased High School Dropout Rate
(EnviroNews World News) – Since the implementation of the Dick Cheney Energy Bill in 2005, the U.S. backyard fracking boom has created some jobs, but it’s also left a trail of destruction in the wake – many of the damages are externalities, or rippling byproducts of the controversial…
Fish & Game Cop Tries to Gag Fracking Activists and is Shut Down by Boise PD
(EnviroNews Idaho) – Boise, ID – An oil and gas lease auction on Oct. 15, 2014 by the Idaho Department of Lands (IDL) was delayed for about 30 minutes as protesters went back and forth with state officials concerning their right to silently protest the event. Reporters at…
Obama’s Natural Gas Whoopin’ – Oil CEO Says Pres. is Wrong, Go Green Instead (Video)
(EnviroNews DC News Bureau) – To begin this brief exposé on natural gas, we’re going to take a peek at a couple of snips of President Barack Obama in what looks like little less than a blatant sales pitch for the expansion of natural gas as a solution…
Fracking Activist Alma Hasse Files $1.5 Million Lawsuit for ‘Wrongful Arrest’ After All Charges Dropped
(EnviroNews Idaho) – Payette, Idaho – Idaho fracking activist Alma Hasse is seeking $1.5 million in damages from Payette County after being arrested at a public hearing and held in the county jail for eight days in October of 2104. On April 6, 2015, Hasse, represented by Nicholas…
Fish & Game Cop Tries to Gag Fracking Activists and is Shut Down by Boise PD
(EnviroNews Idaho) – Boise, ID – An oil and gas lease auction on Oct. 15, 2014 by the Idaho Department of Lands (IDL) was delayed for about 30 minutes as protesters went back and forth with state officials concerning their right to silently protest the event. Reporters at…
Maryland’s GOP Governor Lets Fracking Moratorium Stand
(EnviroNews World News) – Annapolis, Maryland – “Through October 2017, the Maryland Department of Environment will be prohibited from issuing permits to allow drillers to frack for natural gas within the state, part of which sits atop the Marcellus Shale.” That was how Grist reported it when Maryland…
POLL: Should Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin Place Emergency Moratorium on Fracking Activities Following 5.6 Earthquake?
(EnviroNews Polls) – On September 3, 2016, residents near Pawnee, Oklahoma were jolted by a 5.6 magnitude earthquake as a result of oil and gas production activities. The quake officially ties another 5.6 wastewater temblor from 2011 in Prauge, Oklahoma as the largest manmade earthquakes ever in the…
FILM AND ARTICLE CREDITS
- Emerson Urry - Journalist, Author