Wyoming Delegation Reacts to Proposed Federal Fracking Rules

The Department of the Interior released its latest draft rules for the regulation of hydraulic fracturing on public lands Thursday.The new regulations at the federal level are added on top of, and may supersede existing state regulations.

U.S. Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY) said while he is still reviewing the rule, he generally favors regulating hydraulic fracturing through state governments, which is how it had been done for more than 40 years.

U.S. Senator John Barrasso(R-WY) said over the next week we will take a hard look at the proposed regulations. He added that the Department of Interior should not ignore the regulations that are working in states like Wyoming.

Rep. Cynthia Lummis(R-WY) said the administration’s rules are a solution in search of a problem. She added that on the very same day they released this rule claiming its necessity, a Department of the Interior representative could not name, when asked under oath, a single state that was doing a poor job of regulating hydraulic fracturing.