Obama 'reinterprets' federal law to ban fracking on private land

While Barack Obama praises America's natural gas jobs boom on the campaign trail, within in the walls of the White House he's using a regulatory trick to kill off the affordable energy and good-paying jobs that safe, clean fracking provides.

"By suddenly reinterpreting a 50-year-old rule that limits truck drivers to 11 hours on the work site at a stretch, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has delivered an unexpected victory for environmental activists," The Washington Examiner's editorial board writes.
What does that have to do with fracking, and why are environmentalists suddenly obsessed with trucking laws?

"Truckers on drilling sites spend hours each day waiting around until one rig or another needs water or sand. This is why, ever since the 11-hour trucking safety rule was adopted in 1962, truckers who haul water and sand to drilling sites have been exempted. There is no issue of road fatigue, the focus of the 11-hour rule," The Examiner writes

"The Transportation Department's reinterpretation eliminates this exemption, disproportionately affecting sites where fracking is employed. Voila - environmental regulation without the hassles of justifying it scientifically, as would be required for an EPA action."


"This is clearly an indication that somewhere up in the top echelons of this administration, there is a constant battle -- a war going on -- to try to artificially level the playing field between the oil and gas industry and the renewable [energy] industry," Rep. Jeff Landry, R-La., told The Washington Examiner.

By changing the rules, with no public input or a vote by Congress, Obama has once again pledged his allegiance to the radical environmentalist fringe and not the American people.