An editorial from The Exponent Telegram
CLARKSBURG, W.Va. — We applaud U.S. District Judge Scott Skavdahl’s decision blocking the efforts of the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management to set more stringent standards for hydraulic fracturing on public lands.
Skavdahl, based in Wyoming, made the ruling last week, saying that the department didn’t have the authority to set tougher standards.
His ruling said that Congress would have to give the Interior Department the authority to make the new regulations lawful, finding that the agency’s effort “is in excess of its statutory authority and contrary to law,” the Wall Street Journal reported.
Congress has been reluctant to get too involved in setting higher standards, leaving some of the decision-making to individual states…
