Legal Issues in Hydraulic Fracturing

¶ … Pennsylvania Act 13? Compare it to Vermont's May 2012 legislation: http://www.leg.state.vt.us/docs/2012/Bills/Intro/H-464.pdf Compare these with the New York State decision on local control of fracking found in Doc Sharing at.

The Pennsylvania Act 13 of 2012 provides tougher environmental standards, and authorizes local governments to assess an impact fee on fracking operations but is otherwise intended to facilitate the extraction of natural gas from unconventional sources. The Act's provisions include (a) increased setback requirements for unconventional gas development; (b) enhanced protection of water supplies; and (c) strong, uniform, consistent statewide environmental standards. Based on this framework, Pennsylvania seeks to ensure the responsible development of these important resources. By contrast, the New York State decision on local control of fracking In re Cooperstown Holstein Corp. v. Town of Middlefield made it clear that the local communities retain jurisdiction over the roads that facilitate access to energy sources, but the New York State Environmental Conservation Law supersedes and is superior to any local regulations of this industry.

2.

Using the studies, such as The Final Report on Unconventional Gas in Europe, write a brief 1 -- 2 paragraph statement that discusses at least one specific country's regulations.

The Final Report on Unconventional Gas in Europe is applicable to four signatories, France, Germany, Poland, and Sweden. According to Patel (2012), though, "France isn't prepared to tap its shale energy resources until 'clean technologies' are invented to replace hydraulic fracturing, Industry Minister Arnaud Montebourg said" (para. 1). The announcement on August 29, 2012 reaffirmed the French parliament's ban on fracking and effectively ceased all further exploration for shale gas in southern France at this time using fracking (Patel, 2012).

3.

On April 13, 2012, President Obama issued this executive order; briefly, in 1 -- 2 paragraphs, explain what the order provides.

In this executive order, the president emphasizes the need to identify improved ways of administering existing oil resources in the interests of the country, and calls for the creation of an Interagency Working Group to Support Safe and Responsible Development of Unconventional Domestic Natural Gas Resources (Working Group); the president also states that the working group will be chaired by the Director of the Domestic Policy Council, or another representative to be designated.

The list of participating federal organizations is exhaustive, and it is clear the president seeks to achieve a broad-based solution to a complex administrative problem. In this regard, President Obama states that the working group is mandated to "facilitate coordinated Administration policy efforts to support safe and responsible unconventional domestic natural gas development." In this regard, unconventional domestic natural gas development will require the use of hydraulic fracking technologies, although these are not specifically mentioned in the executive order.