Can we benefit from this new source of natural gas without it affecting our water and our way of life? This curated collection of bibliographic resources, government documents, letters, and video investigations serves as a crash course in fracking — from geology and leases to groundwater findings, federal exemptions, and congressional scrutiny. The record is assembled so readers can follow the paper trail themselves.

Hydrofracking’s proposed a massive industrial transformation on a huge swath of rural Northeastern U.S. It has divided communities and sparked an intense public debate about science, economics, law making and enforcement. Under the Surface tells the story of the Marcellus Gas Rush and is written by Tom Wilber, a newspaper reporter who covered the environmental beat for Binghamton, N.Y.’s Press & Sun Bulletin. Recommended!

An Insurance industry blog by Jared Wade. Strange Disasters includes a story about a crater in Turkmenistan caused by scientific laissez-faire about natural gas extraction.

Of all the lobbyists bringing their issues to Capitol Hill, the Groundwater Protection Council (archived) is one of the smaller players. I have to wonder, reading the rankings on Open Secrets, “Lobbying Spending Database: Environment, 2009”, why this groundwater organization spends less on its annual lobbying than “Fur Wraps the Hill” or the “Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy”? Groundwater is a hot button national issue, affecting both the urban and agricultural sectors.

Sens. Tony Avella, D-Whitestone, Liz Krueger, D-Manhattan, and Joseph Addabbo, D-Queens, introduced a package of bills April 11 that includes three bills for tighter regulations and transparency for oil and gas drilling and a bill by Avella to ban hydraulic fracturing, or hydrofracking, in New York State.

…Slottje warned municipal officials to avoid getting trapped into thinking they have to provide road use agreements….The biggest problem Slottje sees facing municipalities is the increased erosion of enforcement of environmental regulations. “So we’re swinging back to protecting the environment through property rights and home rule,” she said.