Daryl Hannah, activists press White House on ‘fracking’ rule

“This event will send a strong message to the Obama Administration that protecting public lands, water and air is more important than oil and gas industry profits,” states an advisory for the event backed by 350.org, CREDO Action and others.

The anti-fracking movement has attracted entertainment industry figures like Hannah, who appeared in “Splash,” “Kill Bill” and other movies, and Mark Ruffalo, who played The Hulk in the recent “Avengers” movie.

The protest comes a day before Friday’s close of the public comment period on the proposed Interior Department regulations, which create new requirements to disclose chemicals used in fracking, among other provisions. The rules cover fracking on federal and Indian lands.

Rally organizers say they will provide the White House and Interior more than 600,000 public comments Thursday urging a fracking ban on federal lands.

Environmental groups that oppose fracking or allege Interior’s plan is too weak have organized a number of public comment campaigns around the rule.

But the oil and gas industry and allied groups are pushing the other way. They say new federal regulations will add red tape that stymies fracking, which alongside advances in horizontal drilling, has enabled the nation’s oil and gas production boom.

Check out the competing comments on Interior’s rule here.

This post was updated at 11:54 a.m.