Comment on FR Doc # 2013-12154

I write today in response to the rule proposed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management governing hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," on public lands. The current proposal out for public comment is severely inadequate, and in its current form will fail to protect either public health or the environment. This controversial oil and gas development technique--in which drillers blast millions of gallons of chemically treated water into the earth to force gas from underground deposits--has been linked to air and water pollution and public health problems. In its current form, the proposal fails to stem these problems. In its latest proposal, the BLM fails to propose adequate well construction and integrity standards. A key test to ensure drinking water sources are properly isolated from the well was dropped. Now a test to ensure proper cementing will be required on only one "type well" and the data from that well used to approve others. Such a procedure invites companies to develop one model well and then to cut corners on the rest. Industry should have to demonstrate the integrity of every well. The draft requires companies to disclose chemical constituents in fracking fluids, after fracking is complete. Disclosure should occur both before and after fracking, in order to give nearby communities time to establish baseline water quality and then test and monitor water supplies for any fracking-related water pollution. States including Wyoming already require pre-fracking disclosure, so the BLM proposal should go at least this far. The proposal also signals the use of FracFocus as the tool for disclosure. In its current form, FracFocus is insufficient. It's an industry-funded database that fails to allow users to search across forms or aggregate data from multiple wells. To ensure data is complete, adequate and available, the BLM should have its own website for this information reporting, complete with the ability to search and aggregate data. The president pr