Hydraulic Fracturing

I have seldom witnessed an issue as divisive as the extraction of natural gas by hydraulic fracture, better known as fracking.

New research is providing some of the first scientific evidence that a controversial gas drilling technique can contaminate drinking water.

On Dec. 11, in the final weeks of his governorship, David Paterson vetoed a six-month moratorium on hydraulic fracturing in New York state.

The issue of hydraulic fracturing to extract natural gas from deep shale deposits has become increasingly difficult to ignore.

There is a vast reserve of natural gas in New York State, buried thousands of feet below the surface in a geologic formation called the Marcellus Shale.