Last chance to submit comments re: fracking on federal lands

[limpyhobbler]

Tell the Bureau of Land Management: Ban fracking on federal lands

The Obama administration recently released its first major fracking policy--the Bureau of Land Management’s proposed rules for fracking on 600 million acres of public land. And it’s even worse than we feared.1

In a major concession to the fracking industry and its lobbying efforts, the proposed rules are even weaker than previous drafts of the rules.2 3 The proposed rules are so weak that their provisions for disclosing toxic fracking chemical were literally written by ExxonMobil, part of the “model legislation” pushed by the ultra-conservative American Legislative Exchange Council!4 And they do nothing to close Dick Cheney’s infamous “Halliburton loophole,” which exempts fracking from key parts of the Safe Drinking Water Act and the Clean Water Act.5

Of course, it’s become clear that there is simply no safe way to frack. So even worse than the concessions made to industry in the draft regulations is the assumption that fracking should be allowed to continue on federal lands despite overwhelming evidence that it endangers our air, water and climate.

The BLM is accepting public comments on its proposed fracking rules until August 23. We need to let the administration know that these rules are totally inadequate. The administration needs to ban fracking on public lands – not cave to the industry and endanger our health and safety.
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http://act.credoaction.com/letter/blm_fracking_ban/




No fracking on public lands!

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) just released a disastrous new set of fracking rules for federal lands and they’re covered with the industry’s fingerprints. The BLM is now accepting public comments, but we have less than a week to make our voices heard. Help beat back the corporate influence on our democracy and join in a flood of comments demanding the BLM protect our communities by banning this extreme fossil fuel extraction process.
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http://action.priceofoil.org/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=13984&tag=fb

[limpyhobbler]

1. Obama Administration Rushes To Expand Fracking On Public Lands, Despite Frightening Evidence

A troubling pattern of putting profits over scientific facts and public health has emerged as the administration promotes fracking on our public lands:

• The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency abandoned its claim that a fracker in Parker County, Texas, was contaminating drinking water with methane. (Dallas Star-Telegram, 3/31/12)
  
• The EPA dropped a multimillion-dollar investigation into water contamination from fracking in Wyoming. (ProPublica, 7/3/13)
  
• EPA whistleblowers emerged with evidence that top Obama officials censored the EPA’s investigation of water contamination from fracking in Dimock, PA. (E&E News,7/30/13)
  
• The new Secretary of Energy, Ernest Moniz, authored a report underwritten by the natural gas industry praising fracking. (Mint Press News, 8/13/13)

While administration officials suppress the facts, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has proposed a set of rules that will allow fracking on 600 million acres of federal land. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, the proposed rules "give industry a free pass.” In fact, DeSmogBlog has detailed how the BLM rules mirror plans developed by the Exxon Mobil-funded American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).

The Bureau of Land Management is accepting public comments until August 23 on the administration’s proposed set of rules. The climate and progressive advocacy organizations Forecast the Facts and Daily Kos have launched a petition calling on President Obama to ban fracking on federal lands. A coalition of groups opposing the BLM rules plan to deliver the petition in a rally going from LaFayette Park to BLM headquarters on August 22 in Washington, DC.

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/08/16/2471231/administration-expand-fracking-public-lands/

[Champion Jack]

2. Do it folks, it's important