Dems hit lax fed drilling oversight

[cal04]

APNewsBreak: House Democrats cite lax oversight of oil, natural gas drilling on public land
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/apnewsbreak-dems-hit-lax-drilling-202122879.html

Federal policing of oil and natural gas on public lands is lax and inconsistent, with only 6 percent of violations resulting in monetary fines over 13 years, House Democrats said in a report Wednesday.

Fines over that time totaled less than $275,000, an amount that the Democratic staff of the House Natural Resources Committee characterized as little more than "pocket change" for oil and gas companies. The report said federal regulators issued no fines in the period studied, February 1998 to February 2011, in eight of the drilling states.

The report, obtained by The Associated Press before its public release later Wednesday, said the government does little to ensure accountability or protect the environment, even as drilling on federal land has increased in recent years. The increase is driven in part by hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," a drilling technique that has allowed companies to extract oil and gas long locked underground.

(snip)
"It would be an overstatement to even call these fines a slap on the wrist. For oil and gas companies making billions from drilling on America's public lands, this kind of inadequate oversight and enforcement is little more than a pin prick," said Massachusetts Rep. Edward Markey, the committee's top Democrat. Markey and Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., requested the report.