An Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) study has linked a contaminated Wyoming aquifer to hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. This is the process required to make natural gas extraction profitable, as it opens up cracks and pores in rock formations to make the gas flow. Scientists for the EPA stated that high levels of benzene were found in the water beneath Pavillion, Wyoming, which is located on the Wind River Indian Reservation.

 This is not the first time fracking has been linked to water contamination, but it is the first time the Federal Government has liked the two with scientific evidence. The owner of the well is Encana Oil and Gas, and this is also not the first time Encana has been blamed for contamination due to fracking. There have been other incidents of contamination in surrounding states, and many in western Colorado, over the past several years However, up until now, very little action has been taking to address the problem as a whole. There are several states that have been experiencing increased natural gas production recently, as it is a vital part of the U.S.’s energy future, and this makes proper regulation and oversight critical. Water sampling began in the Pavillion area in 2009, and since there have been small amounts of benzene and other toxic chemicals found in the water. The chemicals found did not exceed national drinking water standards in most cases, but either way, residents were advised to get drinking water from other sources. Since Encana was drilling wells in that area, it has been providing drinking water for 21 households at a cost of approximately $1,500 monthly.

It may be surprising to many people that the United States gets the majority of its crude oil and petroleum from countries other than those in the Middle East. New data released in June 2011 by the U.S. Energy Information Administration show that only about 18 percent of crude and petroleum came from the Middle Eastern countries of Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates in 2010. The majority of the crude and petroleum imported to the U.S. came from the Western Hemisphere, with approximately 49 percent coming from North, South, and Central America, and the Caribbean, including U.S. territories.

The U.S. consumed 19.1 million barrels per day (MMbd) in 2010 of petroleum products, and dependence on foreign oil has declined since 2005, and several factors come into play as to why. The economic situation has played a role, but there are also factors like increased efficiency and changes in consumer patterns. Domestic biofuels production has helped the U.S. to decrease foreign oil reliance as well, but there have also been changes such as domestic production of crude increasing along with increased natural gas use.

Almost every day of his childhood, He Xin remembers the skies in his hometown of Shenyang being gray. “If I wore a white shirt to school, by the end of the day it would be brown,” recalls He, who was born in 1974, “and there would be a ring of black soot under the collar.”

The Bureau of Land Management says there are 1,800 oil wells on public and tribal land in North Dakota and asked for public opinion Wednesday on the industry’s method of hydraulic fracturing those wells.

Hydraulic fracturing is coming under increased public and government scrutiny and about 250 people attended a forum in Bismarck on Wednesday, one of three the BLM will hold by Monday – here, in Colorado and Arkansas.