Washington, DC -- Today, the Department of the Interior moved to rescind the Bureau of Land Management’s safeguards for hydraulic fracturing (fracking) on public lands.
The fracking rule, put in place by the Obama administration, was enacted after years-long process and would be the first safeguards for the fossil fuel extraction process on tribal and publicly-owned lands.
The move comes ahead of oral arguments before the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals over the federal government’s legal authority to manage fracking on public lands.
This attempt to undo these safeguards for our public lands is just the latest attack from the Trump administration on environmental protections, though they have repeatedly been stymied by legal challenges and widespread public opposition to their polluter-friendly agenda.
In response, Sierra Club Beyond Dirty Fuels campaign deputy director Kelly Martin released the following statement:
“With today’s decision, Trump and Zinke are making it clear that they think we need more fracking operations contaminating our drinking water, causing earthquakes, and polluting our environment, not fewer. The Sierra Club will continue to defend this rule, ensuring that our publicly-owned lands remain protected from fracking and Donald Trump.”
###