As energy businesses look to new methods to harvest oil and gas resources, they are coming across fierce opposition from environmentalists, and at times, the government. It may take several years, as in the case of fracking, for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to begin to regulate a new technique, but once it does it can mean heavy regulation and even penalties. Fracking has long been suspected of causing groundwater contamination by environmental groups, but it took three years before the EPA now states that fracking was the probable cause of local water supply contamination in central Wyoming.

Fracking

A relative newcomer to natural gas drilling, fracking is the technique whereby a hydraulic fluid containing chemicals is forced into rocky areas to induce fracturing and allow the gas or oil underneath to be released. The practice is banned in other countries, but it is not as regulated here in the United States. As the easiest reserves of oil and gas have already been exploited, it becomes harder and harder to reach other areas that might need deeper drilling. Fracking is one way to get to those resources that might otherwise be hard to reach, however it comes at potential environmental costs.

Groundwater Contamination

Fracking has been blamed for groundwater contamination, but energy companies have been quick to point out that the contaminants may be naturally occurring and have little to do with the fracking process. While states are eager to get new technologies that will create jobs in their area, some states like Wyoming are starting to evaluate the cost of doing business with untested techniques that might cause even bigger problems down the road. As the first state to require petroleum companies to disclose the list of ingredients in their fracking liquids, Wyoming is making sure that big business won’t end up costing them the use of their land or the health of their inhabitants long after the company leaves.