Natural Resources: Fracking

Hydraulic fracturing has been around for decades. But now, natural gas producers are deploying a new gas drilling method called high-volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing to release gas locked in untapped shale formations.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that by 2020, shale gas will comprise more than a fifth of total U.S. natural gas production.

Drilling is moving out of remote areas to within range of millions of people in cities and towns – and their water supplies.