Hydraulic Fracturing Well Stimulation Practice Threatened by Some in Congress

Increasingly, media attention is being paid to a practice industry has been utilizing for 60 years to stimulate wells. Hydraulic fracturing is the process where water, small amounts of chemicals, and sand or another proppant are injected into a completed well at high pressure to create small fissures through the target rock that better enable the natural gas or oil to flow to the well bore and be produced. This practice is currently regulated by the individual states and is absolutely vital to current and future production in the US, especially onshore production from shale where hydraulic fracturing is required for these tight formations to produce at a commercial rate.

To learn more about hydraulic fracturing practices, regulation, and attempts by the US Congress to require federal regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act, please visit www.energyindepth.org.