Natural Gas Spotlight: Executive Order 13605

Last week, the President issued an Executive Order entitled "Supporting Safe and Responsible Development of Unconventional Domestic Natural Gas Resources." The Order directs several agencies to coordinate towards achieving "safe and responsible development of unconventional domestic natural gas resources and associated infrastructure." While the Order is broad based in terms of its objectives and natural resource concerns, it is widely acknowledged to have a focus on the process of fracking for extracting natural gas from shale that was unreachable under earlier technologies. Currently, the state governments are primarily responsible for overseeing the exploration and production of natural gas. However, the Order is intended to accelerate the federal government's new role in setting "public health and environmental standards to implement Federal law and augment State safeguards" in the industry.

In particular, this Order directs interagency coordination by establishing a...