Executive Order: Feds To Take Control of Domestic Natural Gas Production-- Is this too much control?

April 16, 2012

Mac Slavo
SHTFPlan.com
While
Americans focused their attention on the Colombian controversy
involving U.S. Secret Service agents, prostitutes and excessive
drinking, President Obama quietly signed his latest Presidential
Executive Order.

The Supporting Safe and Responsible Development of Unconventional Domestic Natural Gas Resources Executive
Order seeks to create what amounts to a Presidential super committee
that will oversee the regulation and development of the ‘unconventional’
natural gas industry for the purpose of ensuring a long-term natural
gas supply for the United States, as well as to do so in a safe and
environmentally responsible manner.

Excerpts (Read the complete E.O.):

While natural gas production is carried out by private firms,
and States are the primary regulators of onshore oil and gas
activities, the Federal Government has an important role to play
by regulating oil and gas activities on public and Indian trust lands,
encouraging greater use of natural gas in transportation, supporting
research and development aimed at improving the safety of natural gas
development and transportation activities, and setting sensible,
cost-effective public health and environmental standards to implement
Federal law and augment State safeguards.

Because efforts to promote safe, responsible, and efficient
development of unconventional domestic natural gas resources are
underway at a number of executive departments and agencies (agencies),
close interagency coordination is important for effective implementation
of these programs and activities. To formalize and promote
ongoing interagency coordination, this order establishes a high-level,
interagency working group that will facilitate coordinated
Administration policy efforts to support safe and responsible
unconventional domestic natural gas development.

The target of the legislation is what many believe is
the unrestricted and out-of-control drilling practices of hydraulic
fracturing, or fracking, a process which blasts water, sand and
chemicals underground to stimulate the release of natural gas. Fracking
has led to health concerns from environmentalists and others for its
potential to pollute the air and contaminate drinking water. Some
theories also suggest that fracturing may raise the likelihood of earthquakes in areas like the central United States, an argument that many scientists agree is plausible.

Domestic Fracking Intensity via Gasland

Several
industry groups have applauded the President’s move to curtail the
industry, with American Petroleum Institute head Jack Gerard saying his
organization is “pleased that the White House recognizes the need to
coordinate the efforts of the federal agencies that are reviewing,
studying or proposing new regulations.”

The President’s order
establishes an ”Interagency Working Group” to be composed of deputy
level or higher representatives from federal agencies that include the
Defense Department, Transportation, Agriculture, Health and Human
Services, Energy, Homeland Security, and the Environmental Protection
Agency. The working group has been tasked with supporting the safe,
responsible and efficient development of unconventional domestic natural
gas resources.

Now that the President has given the go ahead,
there’s nothing holding the government back. The fracking industry
stands to be impacted almost immediately, with federal agencies prepared
to tear into operations nationwide in short order:

The Obama administration is taking new steps to increase federal
oversight of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, a drilling method that
has helped usher in a natural-gas boom but brought with it environmental
concerns.

The Environmental Protection Agency is slated to unveil final
oil-and-gas air pollution regulations next week that would cut
smog-forming and toxic emissions from wells developed with fracking.
Separately, the Interior Department will soon float rules for fracking
on public lands.

Source: The Hill

But not everyone agrees with what is considered by many
to be a further expansion of the federal government into industries
traditionally reserved for State regulatory agencies. “We don’t need
another working group, or any more bureaucracy, ” responded republican
Congressman John Boehner through a spokesman.

According to
opponents of the legislation, by Presidential decree the federal
government can now coordinate action through thirteen core federal
agencies against any domestic natural gas production facility and
according to standards determined to be appropriate not by law, but
because of political agenda.

Moreover, because a key stated
purpose of the Executive Order is to ensure long-term supplies, the
President’s decree gives the federal government the ability to shut down
gas production operations as they see fit, potentially leading to
government price fixing and centralized control of an essential natural
energy resource.

While the President’s Executive Order aims to
curtail the unsafe and environmentally dangerous practices of the
fracking industry, it further expands government control over our lives
through more centralization of power and bureaucracy.