EPA Issues Emissions Rule For Hydraulically Fractured Natural Gas Wells

Natural gas exploration and drilling has greatly increased over the past several years. One reason for this boom has been the development of new drilling techniques using hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," to extract gas from shale beds that were formerly not economical to develop. New fracking wells in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Texas, Wyoming, North Dakota, and other states have led to calls for increased regulation by the federal government.

On April 17, 2012, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency responded with new air emission regulations for the oil and gas industry under the Clean Air Act. Most notably, one of these new regulations governs air emissions from natural gas fracking wells, including emissions of greenhouse gases. Air emissions from natural gas wells were not previously subject to federal regulation.