Rep. Bishop pushes Interior to disregard ‘fracking’ comments

Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah) is pressing Interior Secretary Sally Jewell not to consider withdrawn comments about U.S. natural-gas development as it completes final regulations on hydraulic fracturing.

{mosads}Late last month, National Park Service Director Jonathan Jarvis sent a letter to Bishop asking for the withdrawal of comments the deparment made expressing doubts about whether natural-gas development can help fight climate change.

The comments, which stemmed from a New York Times op-ed, were originally sent to Bishop months ago.

They were also sent in August to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which is shaping rules to govern hydraulic fracturing on federal and Indian lands.

Jarvis, in the letter to Bishop in November, said the inclusion of a quote from Cornell Professor Anthony Ingraffea’s op-ed was “inappropriate” and that the wide-ranging comments on BLM’s proposal had other problems.

In a letter sent to Jewell on Friday, Bishop said he was “deeply disappointed and troubled by the Park Services’s actions.”

“The NPS comments enabled the false narrative that hydraulic fracturing is not regulated and is unsafe,” he wrote.

“It’s further troubling that the NPS lacks a system of data accountability and quality control.”