An Arizona congressman trying to block the National Park Service's authority to regulate oil and gas drilling operations in the National Park System says the agency's updated regulations would be "job-killing" and that "extremist groups" are maligning his intentions.

U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar and six colleagues have asked the House of Representatives to pass House Joint Resolution 46, which would prevent the Park Service from implementing its "9B" regulations. The regulations, which the Park Service has spent the past seven years updating, apply to oil and gas development on privately owned energy reserves located below park units.

Among the parks that have active oil and gas development within their borders, or which could have recoverable reserves that attract drilling interest, are Big Cypress National Preserve in Florida; Big Thicket National Preserve and Padre Island National Seashore, both in Texas; Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio; Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area in Tennesse and Kentucky, and; Dinosaur National Monument in Utah and Colorado. While active drilling currently affects only a dozen units of the National Park System, overall there are more than 40 units of the park system where the federal government does not own the sub-surface mineral rights, according to the National Parks Conservation Association.

Rep. Gosar argues the revised 9B regulations are unnecessary, and without them "these private and state-controlled operations will continue under the same environmental regulations that have worked well for the past 38 years.”

But the Park Service, which since 2009 has been trying to update the regulations, takes the position that they are necessary to better protect park lands and resources. As written, they would "address gaps in the previous regulations that limited the NPS’ ability to adequately protect park resources and values and visitor health and safety," the agency said in November when it adopted the revisions. 

The changes would:

• Bring more drilling activities under the Park Service's oversight by eliminating two provisions that exempted 319 operations from the 9B regulations, which hadn't been updated in nearly four decades;
• Remove a $200,000 cap on the financial assurance or bonding cap operators must be able to meet to cover the estimated costs of site reclamation
• Give the Park Service greater authority to write citations for noncompliance with the regulations.

In explaining the need to update the 9B regulations, Park Service staff noted that since they were first adopted 37 years ago, there have been technological advances in energy exploration, including three-dimensional geophysical exploration, extended-reach directional and horizontal drilling capabilities, and "containerized drilling fluid systems that need to be addressed.

"The proposed revisions are designed to reflect such advances, particularly with respect to protection of park natural and cultural resources and human health and safety," the agency said in calling for the updates.

When groups such as NPCA raised concern over Rep. Gosar's efforts to block the 9B regulations and moved to rally opposition, the Republican from Texas fired back.

“Extremist groups are stoking unsubstantiated claims that H.J.Res.46 will authorize new drilling in our national parks. This is utterly false. According to the National Park Service, ‘There are currently 534 non-federal oil and gas operations in a total of 12 System units …. Non-federal oil and gas rights exist within System units in situations where the United States does not own the oil and gas interest,’" he said in a release. "H.J.Res.46 simply seeks to block a midnight Obama regulation implemented in November which unjustly targeted the livelihoods of these existing non-federal operations. Once this fundamentally flawed Obama regulation is rolled back, these private and state-controlled operations will continue under the same environmental regulations that have worked well for the past 38 years.”

While the congressman went on to say that "the federal government has no right to impose job-killing regulations for private and state-owned oil and natural gas wells not owned by the federal government," Park Service officials maintain they must protect park resources as best they can.

"We have a fundamental responsibility to conserve park resources and the values for which these parks are created for the enjoyment of future generations,” recently retired Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis said back in November. “The changes we made to this rule bring more than 300 previously exempt oil and gas operations in parks under NPS regulations. The rule clarifies the process for oil and gas development in the small group of parks where current operations exist, and for parks that may have to manage oil and gas operations in the future.”

Joining Rep. Gosar in sponsoring the resolution are Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Arizona, Rep. Diane Black R-Tennessee, Rep. Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen, R-American Samoa, Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Washington, Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, and Rep. Keven Cramer, R-North Dakota.

The politicians say "this misguided rule could negatively impact 534 non-federal oil and gas operations in park units located in New Mexico (four operations), Florida (20 operations), Texas (232 operations), Tennessee/Kentucky (159 operations), Ohio (90 operations), and West Virginia (29 operations). This regulation will kill private sector jobs and stifle energy production."

Independent Petroleum Association of America, Western Energy Alliance, and the American Exploration & Production Council in their comments on the issue said the Park Service already has the authority to properly protect park resources without updating the regulations. "Overly burdensome restrictions on the rights of leaseholders to access or otherwise develop mineral rights could also constitute an unconstitutional taking of private property rights," they said.

But the NPCA maintains that, "(I)f Congress repeals these rules, drilling could occur in national parks with little more than bare-minimum state regulations. The Park Service will have essentially no authority over oil and gas development proposed inside national parks. Leaks and spills could go unpunished without NPS authority to enforce safety standards. Companies would be able to build roads through national parks to begin drilling, such as the 11-mile road through the heart of Big Cypress National Preserve built to reach an oil and gas lease. Drilling companies would not be required to inform parks or park visitors about when or how drilling operations would occur."