Government Energy Policy, Business and Technology

Fracking Presents Big Problems That Towns Have Little Authority to Fix

Governing: Hydraulic fracturing generates a lot of low-cost energy, but as has been widely reported, it carries with it troubling liabilities. Most of those involve an environmental price paid by the areas where the drilling takes place and oil or natural gas is transported. Localities have limited ability to do anything about them.

In December, the Environmental Protection Agency released a study that found fracking can have a negative impact on local drinking water. Injection wells used in fracking have also been linked to earthquakes. The U.S. Geological Survey says the earthquake issue has been overstated, but such concerns drive down local home values and, with them, property tax receipts.

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