Utilities Law Review - Volume 19 - Issue 1

Editorial
Thoughts on the UK Competition Regime
J F Pickering

Articles
Natural Gas: A Long Bridge to a Promising Destination
Richard J Pierce Jr
Lyle T. Alverson Professor of Law, George Washington University

Use of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing (fracking) to produce natural gas from shale formations has provoked debate among politicians all over the world. It has also raised scores of challenging legal issues that are being litigated in numerous agencies and courts in the United States. The public is divided on fracking. Some people view it as a practice that is so hazardous to the environment that it should be banned. Others view it as a potential source of an economic boom so large that it should be encouraged, as long as it is subjected to strict regulation to minimize environmental risks. The purpose of this essay is to explain why the author is in the second group.