Oklahoma passes law prohibiting outright bans on hydraulic fracturing

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June 1, 2015

On May 29, Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin signed a bill into law restricting municipalities from regulating oil and gas activities in their jurisdictions. Under the new regulation, municipalities are able to regulate the byproducts of oil and gas activity, such as noise, air, and water pollution, but are unable to place an outright ban on oil and gas activities.

This bill follows a similar law passed recently in Texas restricting local regulation of oil and gas extraction.  Both bills give state level commissions responsibility for regulating oil and gas industries to make a more transparent permitting and extraction process. In Oklahoma, Governor Fallin justified the new law by citing recent earthquake activity and arguing that it is best regulated by state-level commissions.

Source: E&E News

Updated: July 6, 2015