Washington (Platts)--6Sep2012/343 pm EDT/1943 GMT

The Obama administration plans to seek industry support as it pursues regulation to require public disclosure of the chemicals used by oil and gas developers in hydraulic fracturing on federal and Indian lands, a White House official said Thursday.

"We are focused on making sure rules are in place" at the Bureau of Land Management to address hydraulic fracturing fluids, said Heather Zichal, deputy assistant to the president for energy and climate change. "There is a way to do that with industry support. That is what we are focused on."

Zichal said the rule is more aimed at addressing the potential environmental impacts of fracking than setting limits. It will be a question of working with environmental concerns and industry, she said, noting that the administration has done so for air regulations.

"We can do that with federal lands," Zichal told reporters following an address before the Women's Council on Energy and the Environment.

Zichal told industry in late June that the public comment period for the proposed BLM rule would be extended 60 days at the request of the oil and gas industry. The current deadline for comments is Monday.

BLM proposed the rule May 11 that would require producers to publicly disclose the chemicals used after they had completed fracking operations.

FOCUS ON CLEAN-ENERGY ECONOMY

Meanwhile, a second term of the Obama administration would focus on a "clean-energy economy" with a greater push for renewable energy and efficiency when it comes to a climate change policy, Zichal said.

In addition to pushing low-emission energy, the administration will "double-down" on energy efficiency and "work within existing authority" in its next term should Congress not move an energy policy, Zichal said.

It may also be possible to deal with climate change initiatives in discussing tax policy reform, Zichal said. But as far as any greenhouse gas "cap-and-trade" initiative from the US Environmental Protection Agency, she said the administration would focus on existing rules and regulations for a "clean energy economy."

--Cathy Cash cathy_cash@platts.com 
--Edited by Jason Lindquist, jason_lindquist@platts.com

Creative Commons License

To subscribe or visit go to:  http://www.platts.com