Documents: Federal Officials Quietly Question Shale Gas

Over the past six months, The New York Times reviewed thousands of pages of documents related to shale gas, including hundreds of industry e-mails, internal agency documents and reports by analysts. A selection of these documents is included here; names and identifying information have been redacted to protect the confidentiality of sources, many of whom were not authorized by their employers to communicate with The Times.

In this e-mail chain from April 2011, United States Energy Information Administration officials express concerns about the economic realities of shale gas production. They describe irrational exuberance in the market, and they suggest that the land rush in shale plays, or formations, which was especially accelerated and costly in 2008, could be the downfall of some shale gas companies.

Visit the site below to read the document:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/us/natural-gas-drilling-down-documents-5.html