{"id":5409,"date":"2012-03-20T10:36:28","date_gmt":"2012-03-20T15:36:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=5409"},"modified":"2012-12-19T15:01:31","modified_gmt":"2012-12-19T21:01:31","slug":"how-fracking-in-the-northeast-could-impact-farmland-in-oklahoma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2012\/03\/20\/how-fracking-in-the-northeast-could-impact-farmland-in-oklahoma\/","title":{"rendered":"How Fracking in the Northeast Could Impact Farmland in Oklahoma"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Spencer Platt \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

Ray Kemble delivers fresh water to a home that had their water contaminated due to hydraulic fracturing on January 18, 2012 in Dimock, Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n<\/div>

The federal government issues mortgages and loan guarantees to low-income Americans living in rural areas.<\/p>

But the U.S. Department of Agriculture is considering requiring environmental studies before issuing money to those leasing their land for oil and natural gas production.<\/p>

Why is this happening? U.S. Rep. Dan Boren says it\u2019s because the USDA is bowing to political pressure exerted by opponents of hydraulic fracturing \u2014 particularly those in the Northeast, reports<\/a> the Tulsa World.<\/em><\/p>

<\/em>The USDA\u2019s Rural Housing Service generally doesn\u2019t require a down payment, and has been especially popular in the wake of tight credit markets, writes<\/a> New York Times<\/em> reporter Ian Urbina:<\/p>\n

\u2026 the program\u2019s loans have roughly quadrupled since 2004.<\/p><\/blockquote>

Much of the money has gone to states like Pennsylvania, Texas and Louisiana, which are booming with oil and natural gas drilling.<\/p>

The National Environmental Review Policy Act \u2014 NEPA \u2014 requires environmental reviews before federal money is spent, but home and rural business loans are generally excluded.<\/p>

The rural housing decision might also impact the department’s Rural Business and Cooperative Program, which issues grants and loans to rural businesses.<\/p>

Hydraulic fracturing is an increasingly common drilling technique, and it’s has had a big economic impact in Oklahoma and a lot of states. But there are environmental concerns<\/a> about water contamination, spills and air pollution.<\/p>\n

Over the last year, some banks and federal agencies have started revisiting their lending policies to account for the potential impact of drilling on property values, reports the Times<\/em>.<\/p><\/blockquote>

One Agriculture Department office in New York said they were no longer financing homes with gas leases because, in part, of the expensive environmental studies.<\/p>

It’s not clear if this is happening yet in Oklahoma, reports the World<\/em>, but Boren isn’t waiting for confirmation.<\/p>

\u201c\u2026 taking away this loan option would only discourage economic development in rural communities like the many located in my eastern Oklahoma district,\u201d Boren wrote Monday<\/a> in a letter he sent to Agriculture Secretary Thomas J. Vilsack.<\/p>

\u201cNot only would an environmental review harm the individuals that need the loans the most, it would also be detrimental to our nation\u2019s progress towards energy independence,\u201d Boren wrote. \u201cIf we make potential home owners choose between getting a home loan to keep their house or maintaining a mineral lease, viable sources of oil and gas may become less accessible.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The federal government issues mortgages and loan guarantees to low-income Americans living in rural areas.But the U.S. Department of Agriculture is considering requiring environmental studies before issuing money to those leasing their land for oil and natural gas production.Why is this happening? U.S. Rep. Dan Boren says it\u2019s because the USDA is bowing to political […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":5410,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[490,301,14,16],"tags":[230,238,270],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5409"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5409"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5409\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5417,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5409\/revisions\/5417"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}