Feds to Resume CA Leasing | Russell T. Rudy Energy LLC
“Rigzone” reports that in 2013 environment groups contended that the U. S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) had not adequately studied the environmental impacts of fracking and other well stimulation techniques being used in the Monterey shale. A federal judge agreed and the state-created California Council on Science and Technology was commissioned to further study the issue. In the meantime, the BLM was instructed to stop leasing oil and gas rights.
On Thursday, the Council released its findings that fracking and other well stimulation techniques had not poisoned water or increased earthquake risks. The Council did concede that their conclusions were based on existing data which is incomplete. The study found that fracking in California uses less water than in other locales, and that the wells are shallower, and the geology unique. All of these factors tend to limit the environmental consequences.
As a result of these findings, BLM will resume leasing oil and gas rights in 2015. However, the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the plaintiffs in the law suit, said that such a move was “premature”.
To read the article in its entirety, please go to www.rigzone.com/news/oil_gas/a/134775/Feds .
