On May 16, 2013, the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released an updated draft rule for hydraulic fracturing on public lands. The rule was originally proposed in May 2012, but was withdrawn and revised to address several concerns raised in public comments. Changes from the original proposed rule include required use of cement evaluation logs in place of the originally proposed cement bond logs, a modification to the procedure for asserting trade secrets that would allow operators to submit to BLM an affidavit asserting exemption from disclosure of certain information regarding fracturing fluid, and the addition of a provision allowing the BLM to approve variances.
The updated draft rule will be subject to a 30-day public comment period from the date the draft rule is published in the Federal Register.