Western Energy Alliance Releases Economic Analysis of BLM's Revised Fracking Proposal for Federal Lands
Updating previous posts, the Western Energy Alliance (WEA) recently released an economic analysis in response to the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) latest version of its proposed fracking rules for wells on federal lands. Bloomberg BNA reports that WEA believes that although positive changes were made in the latest revised rules, BLM did not consider a number of factors, such as initial delay costs associated with implementing the rule in light of current staffing levels. BLM estimated that its revised proposal would cost industry between $12 million to $20 million annually, which is substantially lower than the estimated costs of the original proposal ($37 to 44 million annually). However, WEA found that BLM’s latest proposal will still have a significant financial impact on the industry. WEA and other industry groups have urged BLM to abandon the proposed rules.