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The Obama administration today said it is moving to gain information about a key oil and natural-gas production technique that is viewed as essential for boosting gas supplies but that critics fear could contaminate drinking water. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency launched a study to determine whether "hydraulic fracturing" is contaminating water supplies. The technique breaks open underground rock, releasing the gas within.
The issue has been drawing the federal government's attention as new techniques allow access to vast gas supplies in underground rock formations known as shale. The shale regions -- concentrated in states including Texas, Louisiana, Pennsylvania and New York -- have become a focus in the energy world, with major companies snapping up shale-gas developers. Companies such as Chesapeake Energy Corp. and XTO Energy Inc. say the supplies could multiply the available domestic reserves of a resource that produces fewer greenhouse-gas emissions than coal and oil.
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