Ready or not, California’s new Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (“SGMA”) is here and mine operators should be vigilant in monitoring and actively participating in developments under the law. Previously, the use of groundwater was largely unregulated. Now local agencies are in the driver’s seat when it comes to addressing a very complex problem: managing groundwater … Continue Reading
On Thursday, the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) released a long awaited, and congressionally mandated, study detailing the relationship between hydraulic fracturing and drinking water. The EPA found no signs of “widespread, systemic” drinking water pollution from hydraulic fracturing. “It is the most complete compilation of scientific data to date,” says Dr. Thomas Burke, with the EPA’s … Continue Reading
On September 30, 2014, a block of twelve Democratic U.S. Senators presented a letter to the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”), urging stricter fracking regulations. The Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”), an agency within the Department of the Interior, is authoring the federal regulations for fracking on public and Indian lands. The … Continue Reading
On Wednesday, July 9, 2014, the State Water Resources Control Board (“Water Board”) announced that it will be holding a “Stakeholder Meeting to Develop Groundwater Monitoring Model Criteria for Oil & Gas Areas.” The meeting is scheduled for Thursday, August 7, 2014 from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm in the Kern County Supervisors Chambers in … Continue Reading
While advances in hydraulic fracturing technology have resulted in an oil and gas boom in North Dakota and other parts of the U.S., the industry, federal and state regulators, and local communities have also had to contend with outgrowths of that development. One particular issue confronting those groups is how to handle and dispose of … Continue Reading
