Should Oil & Gas Drilling Occur at Least 1,500 Feet Away From Homes, Businesses, or Schools? (H.R. 1333)
Do you support or oppose this bill?
What is H.R. 1333?
(Updated May 11, 2021)
This bill — known as the No Drilling in Our Backyards Act — would prohibit the Dept. of the Interior from issuing a permit for any oil or gas drilling operation that’d be located within 1,500 feet of a home, business, school, or other building that the agency determines needs special protection.
Argument in favor
The federal government should require that there be a 1,500 foot buffer between oil and gas drilling operations and nearby homes, schools, and businesses to minimize the health and safety threat the energy extraction activities pose.
Argument opposed
There’s not convincing evidence that living or being near oil and gas drilling threatens people’s health, so this bill seems like a solution in search of a problem. Besides, without research on the subject a 1,500 foot buffer is arbitrary.
Impact
Oil and drilling operations near populated areas; and the Dept. of the Interior.
Cost of H.R. 1333
A CBO cost estimate is unavailable.
Additional Info
In-Depth: Sponsoring Rep. Nanette Barragan (D-CA) reintroduced this bill from the 115th Congress to require that all oil and gas drilling occur at least 1,500 feet away from homes, schools, and businesses:
“Urban oil and gas drilling does not belong in our neighborhoods -- oil wells next to homes are causing a public health crisis in our communities. In my district, CA-44, oil wells are in our backyards and next to parks where children play. They are breathing in the pollution from oil drilling operations and suffering the health impacts such as asthma and respiratory problems.”
The Sierra Club supports this bill. When Rep. Barragan introduced this bill in the 115th Congress, Lena Moffit, Senior Director of the Sierra Club's Our Wild America campaign, said:
"No community should be forced to live with the daily threat of pollution from oil and gas operations in their neighborhoods. It’s time our government took steps to ensure that Americans’ public health is prioritized over fossil fuel industry profits, and that the places our families live, work, and go to school are safe from toxic air pollution."
There are no cosponsors of this bill in the 116th Congress. Last Congress, it had the support of nine Democratic cosponsors and didn't receive a committee vote.
Of Note: Rep. Barragan’s office notes that the city of Dallas, TX has a 1,500 setback rule and that other efforts have been undertaken to create or expand “setbacks” -- which are buffers between oil and gas drilling and homes, businesses, and schools.
In the 2018 midterm election, Colorado voters voted down Proposition 112, the Minimum Distance Requirements for New Oil, Gas, and Fracking Projects Initiative, which would have established a statewide setback of 1,000 feet from property lines for drilling. However, on December 18, 2018, the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission voted unanimously to adopt a rule to measure the existing 1,000-foot drilling setback from property lines rather than buildings, effectively increasing the setback requirements from schools and childcare facilities, effective as of the end of January 2019.
Media:
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Sponsoring Rep. Nanette Barragan (D-CA) Press Release (115th Congress)
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Inside Energy (Context)
Summary by Eric Revell
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