Obama, in speech, touts natural gas while pledging ‘fracking’ rules

President Obama’s State of the Union speech Tuesday affirms Interior Department plans to impose new regulations on the controversial natural gas drilling method called hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.”

The speech strongly touts expanded domestic natural gas production, but seeks to show the administration’s commitment to safe development with the regulations that will govern fracking on public lands.

From Obama’s remarks:

We have a supply of natural gas that can last America nearly one hundred years, and my Administration will take every possible action to safely develop this energy.  Experts believe this will support more than 600,000 jobs by the end of the decade.  And I’m requiring all companies that drill for gas on public lands to disclose the chemicals they use.  America will develop this resource without putting the health and safety of our citizens at risk.

Interior first indicated it was weighing fracking disclosure rules in 2010.

Fracking involves high-pressure injections of water, chemicals and sand into rock formations, which opens cracks that enable trapped gas to flow.

Use of fracking in shale rock formations is enabling a U.S. gas production boom, but bringing concerns about water contamination along with it.