More Regulation of Gas Drilling in the Cards?

Dec. 1, 2008, 3:23 p.m. EST

Abrahm Lustgarten/ProPublica Democrats' control of Congress and the White House could bring tighter regulation of hydraulic fracturing, a process of shooting water, sand and a covert cocktail of chemicals deep underground to release natural gas, the Associated Press reports.

The AP story follows a running investigation by ProPublica digging into whether the growing practice of hydraulic fracturing is putting U.S. water supplies at risk. As ProPublica reporter Abrahm Lustgarten detailed last month, the EPA understated contamination at natural gas drilling sites around the country. That article also reported that as a result of concerns about contamination, Colorado and New York politicians had introduced a bill to close a loophole in the Safe Drinking Water Act that allows hydraulic fracturing to go unregulated.

The bill has a good chance of passing under the administration of Barack Obama and the leadership of Democratic Rep. Henry Waxman in the House Energy and Commerce Committee, according to AP.

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