The Energy Department's natural gas/hydraulic fracturing subcommittee is out with its draft report. Here's the takeaway line from the document's executive summary:

"The Subcommittee shares the prevailing view that the risk of fracturing fluid leakage into drinking water sources through fractures made in deep shale reservoirs is remote."

Certainly, the panel had lots to say about standards and practices, protecting the air, surface wastewater containment, transparency and safety - all important - but the sense here is that Americans' chief concern is whether "fracking" threatens their drinking water. Indeed, that's the main claim of people who oppose natural gas as a breakthrough energy source, as well as the technique that has revolutionized its development.

The subcommittee's conclusion:... more »

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson says the natural gas industry needs to be out front on hydraulic fracturing regulations. With all due respect, that's already happening.

Fracking has been used to free oil and natural gas trapped in subterranean rock formations for six decades - safely. Recall that none other than Administrator Jackson told a congressional committee in May she knew of no instances of water contamination caused by hydraulic fracturing.

That's because the industry members who're producing this important energy source are committed to best practices and guidelines, developed from field experience and in cooperation with API.

For example, in Texas, where the Barnett Shale and Eagle Ford plays are producing clean-burning natural gas - more than 4 billion cubic feet a day in the Ba... more »

Pennsylvania's chief environmental regulator says he's seen no evidence that hydraulic fracturing contaminates underground water supplies. As reported by Reuters, John Hanger, secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) says, "It's our experience in Pennsylvania that we have not had one case in which the fluids used to break off the gas from 5,000 to 8,000 feet underground have returned to contaminate ground water."

He adds that the "perceived health risks were generally exaggerated."

Rather than focus on the exaggerated risks, here are the facts:

• The United States has about a 100-year supply of natural gas largely due to the combined technologies of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling.
• To date, there has not been a confirmed case of groundwater contamination f... more »

A new study by the Ground Water Protection Council (GWPC) found that state regulations governing oil and natural gas field operations are "adequately designed" to protect ground water. The study, "State Oil and Natural Gas Regulations Designed to Protect Water Resources," was a collaborative effort between GWPC, the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Its goal was to examine the language of state oil and natural gas regulations and evaluate it with respect to water resource protection.

Why is this important? A few news articles in recent months have questioned the efficacy of the regulations and have asserted that certain oil and natural gas operations could be harmful to drinking water. These articles have focused primarily on the practice... more »