Driven by Trump Policy Changes, Fracking Booms on Public Lands

[mahatmakanejeeves]

"diva77" posted this in LBN yesterday, but the thread was locked.

Driven by Trump Policy Changes, Fracking Booms on Public Lands

Driven by Trump Policy Changes, Fracking Booms on Public Lands

The administration is auctioning off millions of acres of drilling rights and rolling back regulations, raising environmental concerns in states like Wyoming.

By Eric Lipton and Hiroko Tabuchi
Oct. 27, 2018

CONVERSE COUNTY, Wyo. — The parade of trailer trucks rolling through Jay Butler’s dusty ranch is a precursor to a new fracking boom on the vast federal lands of Wyoming and across the West. ... Reversing a trend in the final years of the Obama presidency, the Trump administration is auctioning off millions of acres of drilling rights to oil and gas developers, a central component of the White House’s plan to work hand in glove with the industry to promote more domestic energy production.

Seeing growth and profit opportunities at a time of rising oil prices and a pro-business administration, big energy companies like Chesapeake Energy, Chevron, and Anschutz Exploration are seizing on the federal lands free-for-all, as they collectively buy up tens of thousands of acres of new leases and apply for thousands of permits to drill.

In total, more than 12.8 million acres of federally controlled oil and gas parcels were offered for lease in the fiscal year that ended on Sept. 30, triple the average offered during President Barack Obama’s second term, according to an analysis by The New York Times of Interior Department data compiled by Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonpartisan group that advocates budget discipline.

Like the acreage offered for lease, the acreage actually leased by energy companies on federal lands hit its highest level last year since 2012, the height of the initial fracking boom in the United States. After 2012, a combination of Obama administration policy decisions and lower oil prices slowed demand for new drilling rights, a trend reversed since President Trump took office. ... That reversal has been propelled in part by the Interior Department’s willingness to go along with industry pressure to weaken rules that govern how these federal lands can be used, as regulators follow detailed industry scripts for rollbacks in protections for wildlife, air quality and groundwater supplies, documents show.
....



A coal train passes a drilling rig north of Douglas, near a site where Chesapeake Energy is drilling on federal lands to set up an oil and gas well.CreditKristina Barker for The New York Times

Eric Lipton reported from Converse County, Wyo., and Hiroko Tabuchi from New York. Rachel Shorey contributed reporting from Washington.

Eric Lipton is a Washington-based investigative reporter. A three-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize, he previously worked at The Washington Post and The Hartford Courant. @EricLiptonNYT

Hiroko Tabuchi is a climate reporter. She joined The Times in 2008, and was part of the team awarded the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting. She previously wrote about Japanese economics, business and technology from Tokyo. @HirokoTabuchi • Facebook

A version of this article appears in print on Oct. 28, 2018, on Page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: Trump Fracking Boom Imperils Landscape of American West. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

The picture of the BNSF unit coal train was taken near Bill, Wyoming. I've been through there.

[ProudMNDemocrat]

1. The state of Wyoming is ONE HUGE VOLCANO.......

The volcanic activity under Yellowstone has been increasing over the past several thousand years according to experts.

I pity the people of Wyoming and the rest of the Northern Hemisphere. There has not been a major eruption in over 500,000 years.

Watch this space.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. Yellowstone is in one corner of Wyoming. Douglas is at the other end of Wyoming. NT

[littlemissmartypants]

3. Feeling nauseous over this.

Thanks for the post, mahatmakanejeeves.

♡lmsp