New Jersey Lawmakers Send Christie Ban on Hydraulic Fracturing

FROM: Bloomberg.com by Jim Efstathiou Jr. - Jun 30, 2011 12:00 AM ET

The New Jersey Legislature sent Republican Governor Chris Christie a measure to ban drilling for natural gas using a process called hydraulic fracturing, which environmental groups say contaminates drinking water.

The measure passed the state Senate 32-1 and the Assembly 56-11 with 8 abstentions yesterday, according to the New Jersey Office of Legislative Services website. If Christie signs the bill, it will be the first statewide ban on fracking in the U.S. The governor won’t comment until state lawyers review the legislation, Michael Drewniak, his spokesman, said yesterday in an e-mail.

While New Jersey produces no natural gas, communities in the state’s northwest sits atop the Utica Shale, a largely unexplored formation stretching from Ontario, Canada, to Tennessee.Range Resources Corp. (RRC) said in February that its initial well in the Utica formation in Pennsylvania produced the equivalent of 4.4 million cubic feet of natural gas a day.

“We want to get this in place so that New Jersey will be off-limits,” Assemblywoman Connie Wagner, a Democrat from Paramus and a sponsor of the measure, said in an interview. “There are regulations in place and it’s not working. We are seeing one accident after another.”

U.S. gas output expanded 20 percent in the past five years as the process let drillers extract the fuel from shale formations in Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Pennsylvania once considered impenetrable. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is studying fracking, in which millions of gallons of chemicals are injected underground, for possible impacts on drinking water. The EPA said results are expected in 2014.

FULL ARTICLE: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-30/new-jersey-lawmakers-send-christie-ban-on-hydraulic-fracturing.html