White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the federal government would continue pressing its authority over hydraulic fracturing in the courts. From Wyoming, U.S. District Judge Scott Skavdahl found the federal Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management was not granted authority by Congress to regulate hydraulic fracturing on public lands. In his ruling, the judge said the decision was not based on environmental grounds. “The constitutional role of this court is to interpret the applicable statutory enactments and determine whether Congress has delegated to the Department of Interior legal authority to regulate hydraulic fracturing,” the ruling stated. “It has not.” Speaking to reporters after the ruling, Earnest said a case can be made that the government has a […]