A federal judge in Wyoming has issued a preliminary injunction preventing the Department of the Interior from enforcing rules on the use of hydraulic fracturing on federal lands, saying the Bureau of Land Management lacks authority to oversee drilling activity and that such regulation should be left to the states.
United States District Court Scott Skavdahl said in his ruling that a federal agency must derive its power from Congress, but “at this point, the Court does not believe Congress has granted or delegated to the BLM authority to regulate fracking.”
contribution the petroleum industry makes to California’s state and local economies, accounting for nearly 456,000 jobs, hundreds of billions in revenues, and more than 9% of the state’s gross domestic product.