At the federal government level, hydraulic fracturing is primarily regulated by the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974 and its Amendments. Specifically, the Underground Injection Control (UIC) Program protects the quality of underground drinking water sources. While hydraulic fracturing was exempted from this regulatory control (if its sole purpose is to increase gas production) by the Energy Policy Act of 2005, disposal of produced water from hydraulically-fractured gas reservoirs (refer to What is hydraulic fracturing?) into injection wells remains regulated. Many states have assumed primacy for the UIC Program.

At the state government level, in addition to the UIC Program (if assumed by the state), the responsible state agency can impose additional regulations. In Colorado, for example, the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission has promulgated regulations concerning fracturing fluid composition, well casing and cementing, and disposal of produced water in surface pits. Click here to access those regulations.

Stringency of state regulation of hydraulic fracturing is variable, but most states are increasing stringency of their regulations due to public concerns. A recent report from Resources for the Future, which presents their review of 20 regulatory elements for 31 states in which unconventional gas development is occurring, highlights variability of state regulation. For surface pit liner requirements, of the 6 Western Interstate Energy Board states reviewed, 1 state fell into the pits prohibited class, 3 states into the liner required class, and 2 states into the conditional liner requirement class.

At the local government level, regulation of hydraulic fracturing is upstream of well activities, where the responsible state agency prevails. Roads are an example of a locally-regulated upstream activity.