Obama reveals first-ever federal fracking regulations

A hydraulic fracturing site in Pennsylvania

(Image credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

last updated 20 March 2015

President Obama on Friday announced the U.S. government's first federal regulations on hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking. While states have regulated hydraulic fracturing for years, this marks the first time the federal government has issued rules on the controversial practice, which has increased America's oil and gas production but has also raised health and environmental concerns.

According to the new rules, companies drilling on federal land must report what chemicals they are pumping into the ground to the Bureau of Land Management and dispose of contaminated water safely. The regulations will affect roughly 100,000 wells across the country, but they won't affect fracking that is done on private land, which accounts for the "vast majority" of U.S. fracking, The New York Times notes.