CHRISTIAN SCIENCE-MONITOR: Energy companies and environmentalists have reached rare common ground over the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” of fossil fuels, agreeing to a set of environmental standards that would diminish the environmental impact of drilling operations in the northeastern United States.
The collaborative effort would raise the bar on the environmental practices for virtually all energy companies drilling in the Marcellus Shale formation, which stretches from Ohio to Pennsylvania, West Virginia to New York. It also signals that the controversial practice of fracking may be gaining legitimacy. Rather than trying to ban it, environmental groups may have to start pushing to regulate it…
Monday’s announcement of the new standards – and the creation of a new center to promulgate those standards – come as Illinois wrestles with legislation that would regulate horizontal hydraulic fracturing. On Thursday, a vote on a compromise bill that had support from both environmentalists and the oil and gas industry was postponed because a new wrinkle over licensing caused industry to withdraw its support for the measure… (more)
