The Political History of Hydraulic Fracturing’s Expansion Across the West

Abstract

DOI 10.1515/cjpp-2013-0041 Calif. J. Politics Policy 2014; 6(1): 153–186 Robert E. Forbis Jr* The Political History of Hydraulic Fracturing’s Expansion Across the West Abstract: This article presents an historical-based analysis of how executive branch actions altered federal domestic energy policies and the effect of that shift on the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) domestic energy policies and resource alloca- tions. The analysis is supported by interview data collected from among Department of Interior officials who served during the Bush-Cheney administration as well as BLM administrators located in Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico. The analy- sis and interviews were conducted at the close of President Bush’s tenure in office (2008–2009). The article includes an analysis of archival and government documents describing executive branch actions directing the BLM to favor the energy develop- ment industry’s use of the hydraulic fracturing development process. First, these events are presented chronologically to illustrate how a president and his executive appointees established changes to federal energy policies at the agency level that led to the reallocation of resources favoring domestic energy development. Second, an interpretive analysis of the interview data is presented as a means of validating the initial, document-based analysis. As the article concludes, documents as well as the voices of those most closely involved in the policymaking process confirm that executive branch actions shifted federal domestic energy policies, which then resulted in increased numbers and types of federal development projects using the hydraulic fracturing and directional drilling energy resource development process expanded rapidly across the states of the Rocky Mountain West. Keywords: Bureau of land management; energy policy; environmental policy; executive branch; ­hydraulic fracturing; subgovernment theory. *Corresponding author: Robert E. Forbis Jr, Texas Tech University, Political Science, P.O. Box 41015, Lubbock, TX 79409-1015, USA, Tel.: 806-742-4047, Fax: 806-742-0850, e-mail: robert.forbis@ttu.edu 1 T he Political Will-Power to Achieve a Domestic Policy Objective Prior to being sworn in President George W. Bush announced his first nomina- tion to oversee the federal energy-related administrative agencies. In December of