December 8th, 2011 – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Thursday for the first time that fracking — a controversial method of improving the productivity of oil and gas wells — may be to blame for causing groundwater pollution. The draft finding could have a chilling effect in states trying to determine how to regulate the process. The practice is called hydraulic fracturing and involves pumping pressurized water, sand and chemicals underground to open fissures and improve the flow of oil or gas to the surface. The EPA’s found that compounds likely associated with fracking chemicals had been detected in the groundwater beneath a Wyoming community where residents say their well water reeks of chemicals. Health officials advised them not to drink their water after the EPA found hydrocarbons in their wells. The EPA announcement has major implications for the vast increase in gas drilling in the U.S. in recent … Continue reading →

November 24th, 2011 – Federal lawmakers, bank regulators and law enforcement officials are broadening their efforts to ensure that the growing number of oil and gas leases being signed by landowners across the country comply with mortgage rules and do not create new risks for lenders, appraisers or landowners. The efforts stem from mounting concern that mortgages may be invalidated by people’s signing such leases without first getting permission from their banks. Leases often allow certain activities, like storing hazardous waste on a property, that are expressly forbidden by mortgages because they can harm  resale values. Such activities also violate rules set by institutions like Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Farmer Mac, which buy mortgages from banks. Banks have become increasingly reluctant to give mortgages for properties with gas leases on them. Lenders have predicted that the conflicts between leases and mortgage rules are not likely to lead to foreclosures, but are … Continue reading →