One has to wonder if the “public interest” is being served, given that the regulation of oil and gas drilling at both federal and state levels is under attack by industry forces.
See Drilling Industry and Gubernatorial Candidates Move to Weaken Some State Regulations, ProPublica, August 5.
As the federal government focuses on strengthening regulations for deepwater drilling, the gas and oil industry is quietly trying to weaken state regulations for drilling on land.
Recovery Diva 
Ever since the TEAPOT DOME scandal in the 20’s the oil and gas sector has continued to exploit the resources of the nation and not pay their fair share of taxes or even royalty payments to the federal government. All of that should end completely. That industry so raped the oil and gas sector of the world economy that over 90% of proven reserves are in the hands of the NOCs {National Oil Companies} and they continue to exploit that resource for their own uses and subsidize their economies through low gas and oil prices. Despite any other judgments about peak oil everyone agrees is a limited resource just a question of when peak oil takes place in each country. In the US it was early 70’s.