The Natural Gas Game

Proponents say proper technology for fracking is already in place, but opponents worry about water contamination. What do you think?

It's almost impossible to overestimate the importance of fracking to the natural gas industry and the nation. It's also difficult to understate the controversy surrounding the environmental issues.  Our special report, "Who's Winning the Natural Gas Game?," addresses both

Environmental issues aside,  the economics of natural gas may have already dethroned coal as the nation's key source of electrical power.

The U.S. natural gas boom has kicked off a gold rush among companies trying to cash in on minimizing the industry’s environmental footprint.

There’s ongoing concern about potential health risks associated with natural gas fracking. More communities are publicly opposing the drilling activity, while the industry maintains the technology augers needed energy and manufacturing jobs.

Natural gas has often taken a backseat to crude oil in the Texas energy business, but the advent of fracking shale gas has given it star billing in the Lone Star State — and the nation.

Amid cries for energy independence, fracking has become crucial to taking advantage of previously untapped resources. Take a closer look at hydraulic fracturing, and why the technology has become so important and controversial.

President Obama has said the U.S. has a supply of natural gas to last nearly 100 years. But it turns out geologists and other researchers disagree on that supply figure, which has huge implications for America's energy policy.

U.S. energy producers' ability to pull natural gas from shale may have contributed to a price-dampening oversupply for now, but it’s also triggering tens of billions of dollars in capital investments.

Heated debate over the impact of  liquefied natural gas exports on domestic prices is threatening to derail them at a crucial time for the U.S. industry.

Other countries have invested billions in alternative fuels, from Brazil's government-sponsored soybean-ethanol push to France's headlong expansion of nuclear power after the oil shocks of the 1970s. Should the U.S. do the same? 

Natural gas's real potential for economic impact lies in the vast reservoirs of shale gas that are newly accessible through hydraulic fracturing.

The natural gas industry may be hurting from rock-bottom prices now but if allowed to fully exploit the shale-gas boom, there may be few losers and many winners in the years to come.

The proliferation of fracking and the likelihood of a long-running, shale-gas boom are destined to make winners and losers out of a lot of industries beyond the energy sector.