Energy Majors Pushing To Keep Government From Blocking Shale Gas's Key Technology from Clusterstock by Vincent Fernando, CFA

Energy Majors Pushing To Keep Government From Blocking Shale Gas's Key Technology
from Clusterstock by Vincent Fernando, CFA

AP UK Gas

BP, Shell, and ConocoPhillips are pushing for U.S. lawmakers to create a provision that prevents federal oversight of 'fracking', or hydraulic fracturing, which is basically the technology that turned cheap and abundant U.S. shale gas from a dream into reality.

As we've said before, energy majors seem highly confident that current technology can make the domestic gas boom happen. The only real question is whether or not the U.S. government will allow it:

Rig Zone:

The companies prepared the document, according to sources familiar with it, at the request of the Senate team that is drafting climate change law, which includes Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn.

If incorporated into the climate change law, it would keep the Environmental Protection Agency from imposing regulations on fracturing, which is now regulated at the state level.

The document recommends that states adopt standards for disclosing the contents of hydraulic fracturing chemicals "to health professionals or state agencies" in order to protect health or environmental safety but maintain "the confidentiality of trade secret information" in the fluids.

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The author owns shares in Chesapeake Energy (CHK), a shale gas play.

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