MONTPELIER, Vt. — With northwestern Vermont's Lake Champlain Islands seen as a possible site for natural gas exploration, state lawmakers appear likely to pass a three-year moratorium on the use of a hotly debated gas extraction technique called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
With fracking, a high-pressure mix of water and chemicals is forced into the ground to fracture layers of shale and allow the gas to be released. Environmentalists say the chemicals are a threat to the environment and public health. They also complain that drilling companies haven't disclosed what chemicals are being used.
And wastewater from the process is injected into the ground, a practice that has been tied to earthquakes, including one near Youngstown, Ohio, on Dec. 31.
The gas drilling industry contends its processes are safe and that it has been posting information about the used chemicals on a year-old website called fracfocus.org.
The Vermont Natural Resources Council says the web postings are voluntary and incomplete, and Dan Whitten, a spokesman for America's Natural Gas Alliance, an industry group, said some companies regard their mix of chemicals as proprietary.
therepublic.com
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