Fracturing for natural gas.

• Position: TRENDS AND TRANSITIONS - Brief article

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

New drilling techniques have opened up U.S. natural gas supplies that were unavailable just a decade ago. Hydraulic fracturing, often called "fracking," and horizontal drilling make natural gas production from unconventional sources--shale gas, tight sands and coalbed methane--one of the most rapidly expanding trends in oil and gas exploration and production.

Natural gas is found in porous rock reservoirs beneath the earth's surface; hydraulic fracturing releases this trapped gas.

Natural gas emits fewer pollutants than coal and provides about 22 percent of the total U.S. energy supply, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. In the past, fluctuations in natural gas prices and consistently higher prices than coal have limited the nation's reliance on it. Dependence on natural gas, however, is expected to increase as advances in natural gas drilling technology boost domestic supplies, holding prices down.

Hydraulic fracking for natural gas offers economic benefits to local communities, but its rapid expansion near populated areas...