Fracing and Federalism: A Regulatory Battle of the Titans
Year: 2012
Type: preprint
Abstract: Hydraulic fracturing (also known as “fracking” or “fracing ”) is the process of injecting large volumes of water, sand, and chemicals into the ground to fracture rock and extract natural gas. It has been touted as a way toward greater energy independence and as an economic boom to states. Even though fracing has been practiced for more than 100 years, its evolution and expansion have raised concerns about its regulation. It has become a particularly controversial practice in the past 10 years because of concerns about the environment, citizens’ health, land rights and waste disposal, among other issues. And it increasingly has received media attention. Various federal environmental laws passed since the 1970s could regulate this industry. But the controversial 2005 Energy Act exempted fracing from these major federal environmental laws. Thus states have remained the primary regulators of this growing and complex industry, and the fracing industry has supported such limited and fragmented oversight. The federal government is a bit player when it comes to the regulation of fracing. Moreover, states are urging the federal government to stay out of the regulatory picture. But states are also sometimes finding themselves at odds with their own municipalities and with other states. Indeed, most of the conflict regarding fracing appears to be coming from local communities, towns and townships over contamination and waste disposal. There is concern that state regulations are not standardized or stringent enough. There are also citizen and citizen-activist concerns, some of which have led to lawsuits. In this paper, we discuss the regulatory history of fracing (how it came to be governed by the states and not the federal government), the local concerns primarily over contamination and disposal, the uneven state regulation, the hamstrung federal regulatory role, the legal issues that have arisen and the battles that are brewing among various levels of government as fracing increases. Truly, fracing has touched off a regulatory battle of the titans.
Source: SSRN Electronic Journal
Authors: Barbara Warner, Jennifer Shapiro
Institution: Arkansas State University
Language: English
Topic: Energy Law and Policy
Subfield: Information Systems and Management
Field: Decision Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2339445277