Evaluating the Energy and Economic Sector Impacts of Water Regulations on the Shale Gas Industry

Abstract

Hydraulic fracturing has been a very high profile issue in the energy field for the last several years. There are several reasons for this, but perhaps the three most important are the water intensive nature of the process, the lack of federal oversight, and the amount of overall controversy the process has engendered. With the oil and gas industry being exempt from many federal regulations relating to water and environmental protection, each state has had to create its own regulations for the industry. As a result, these regulations have not been homogenous, and vary immensely. This project analyzed each state's regulations relating to protecting water resources, and performed a scenario analysis to gain an understanding of what the impacts would be if each state implemented the strongest current regulations.