Kansas Regulators Could Oversee Natural Gas Fracturing

Energy and environmental advocates are in an unusual alliance to support of a bill that would give state regulators the authority to oversee hydraulic fracturing of natural gas in Kansas.

The Kansas Corporation Commission currently regulates the state’s oil and gas industry.

The proposed bill had a hearing Tuesday before the Senate Utilities Committee. It would specify that the KCC have authority over fracking regulations.

A succession of attorneys general have said the agency does not have the authority to write rules specifically concerning hydraulic fracturing, called "fracking." Currently, the only way to regulate fracking is to have the Legislature pass a law.

Representatives from the Kansas Independent Oil and Gas Association and the Sierra Club testified in favor of the bill.