As ExxonMobil buys into natural gas, some drillers adopt more environmentally friendly drilling plans

The chief obstacle to natural gas drilling around the country has seemed to be the environmental concerns associated with the hydraulic fracturing process used to drill gas from deeply buried shales. New, more environmentally friendly drilling methods have begun to catch on, but aren't generally mandated and the industry has been reluctant to implement them nationwide, Abrahm Lustgarten of ProPublica reports.

"Sometimes environmental considerations aren't the same as the public considerations, and many times the economic considerations don't fit," David Burnett, a Texas A&M associate research scientist and founder of government- and industry-funded Environmentally Friendly Drilling, told Lustgarten. "There could be better management practices used. We have to find a balance."

Among the improvements: replacing some toxic chemicals with "green" fluids, cutting carbon-dioxide emissions by transporting gas through pipes instead of trucks, using natural gas instead of diesel fuel to power drilling rigs, and taking extra steps to seal methane leaks. Still, the most challenging step in making gas drilling more environmentally friendly is dealing with the wastewater, Lustgarten reports. One possible solution is recycling.

Lustgarten, who has been on the fracking story for months, says the industry continues to resist federal or state mandates for their implementation. Industry officials say the new processes are not applicable in every situation and location. "No matter what we do, we are capitalists here in the U.S.," Richard Haut, the Houston Advanced Research Center project director, told Lustgarten. "We do have to look for a balance between environmental issues and development." (Read more)

At least one oil company is making a major bet on the future of natural gas. Monday, ExxonMobil purchased XTO Energy, the nation's second largest gas producer, Jad Mouawad and Clifford Krauss of The New York Times report. "This is not a near-term decision; this is about the next 10, 20, 30 years," Rex Tillerson, the chairman and chief executive of ExxonMobil, told reporters in a conference call. (Read more)