While additional, updated NEPA analyses of fracking may ultimately be necessary before fracking on federal public lands hits full steam, the oil and gas industry may be able to tap into federal shale formations now by drilling horizontally from nearby leases.Tyler Welti, who recently joined Perkins Coie’s Washington, D.C. office, was the fracking litigation lead for the U.S. Department of Justice, Environment and Natural Resources Division’s Natural Resources Section.[1] BLM manages public lands pursuant to FLPMA, 43 U.S.C. §§ 1701–1785, while the Forest Service administers the National Forest System pursuant to the National Forest Management Act,16 U.S.C. §§ 1600–1687 (NFMA). NFMA similarly requires the Forest Service to issue “land and resource management plans” for units of the national forest system.