Oil and gas companies that drill on public and Indian lands will be required to disclose the chemicals they use in hydraulic fracturing, a controversial energy-processing technique that's commonly known as fracking.

The Interior Department last week released a draft of the forthcoming rule. It cites the Indian Mineral Leasing Act as the authority to regulate fracking on reservations but some tribal leaders don't believe the law goes that far.

The draft also states that tribes have been consulted about the proposed rule. But tribal leaders also said they haven't been adequately included in talks.

“We shouldn’t be held up by federal obstacles or federal red tape,” Tex Hall, the chairman of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation in North Dakota, said at an energy conference, The Fargo Forum reported.

Get the Story:
Federal rules would slow Fort Berthold oil development (The Fargo Forum 5/9)

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