Thousands of natural gas wells are under construction around the country, due to a growing demand for fuel and a new drilling technique that has opened up deeply buried reservoirs once thought too expensive to mine.

The industry says "fracking" — hydraulic fracturing of rock containing natural gas deposits — is safe, and vital to developing new domestic natural gas sources. "Fracking is the key to increased domestic production," said Steve Henke, executive director of the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association. "Without this tool, many of these unconventional shale formations become uneconomical to drill."

But communities in New Mexico and around the country are trying to put the brakes on this kind of drilling. They're worried the fluid used to break open the rock and release the gas is poisoning their water and air. They're concerned about risks posed by the explosive number of new natural gas wells without more oversight and protections.

"I'm pushing for a ban on oil and gas drilling in Mora County," said John Olivas, a Mora County commissioner. "Industry claims [fracking] doesn't affect aquifers, but the evidence I've gathered shows there are threats to water."

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Congress exempted fracking fluids from the Safe Drinking Water Act just six years ago. Now they're reconsidering in light of growing public sentiment against fracking and new evidence of negative impacts from natural gas wells.

Industry and natural gas advocates are trying to be proactive, hoping to stop a tidal wave of negative public sentiment from hindering natural gas development.

On Nov. 18, the New Mexico Oil Conservation Commission approved a drilling rule suggested in August by the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association requiring companies to disclose the contents of fracking fluids. Final wording on the rule is due out in mid-January.

But groups opposed to drilling say reporting frack fluid content after a well is finished is useless. "What value is it for industry to reveal what they've pumped into the earth after they've drilled, in terms of the health and safety of communities?" asked Kathleen Dudley of the opposition group Drilling Mora County. "It is too late then."

An important tool

The U.S. produces 85 percent of the natural gas it uses domestically. New Mexico is a top source for natural gas derived from coal beds, and has even more untapped reserves in shale. Revenue from natural gas production is important to state coffers.

Hydraulic fracturing was used as far back as the 1860s to access oil and gas reserves. "In New Mexico, the majority of the 52,000 oil and gas wells in production have undergone fracturing," according to the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association.

Fracking techniques and fluids changed over the decades. Fresh water took the place of kerosene or oil as the fluid pressurized in wells to break open rock. Walnut shells, glass beads and steel shot were tried for keeping the tiny fractures in the rock open; now companies use sand.

In 1967, the U.S. government and the industry jointly detonated a small nuclear bomb at the Gasbuggy Site, 55 miles east of Farmington, to test how it could be used to fracture rock. Radiation contaminated the deep bedrock and groundwater. The site now is managed by the U.S. Department of Energy.

More than a decade ago, a handful of companies began using a new well process that accessed hard-to-mine shale. Several horizontal shafts were drilled off a single vertical well, expanding the swath of rock that could be fracked. By 2005, shale gas had become a "game changer" in the industry, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Drilling increased dramatically, and with it, production, helping drive down the price of natural gas for consumers. Companies started negotiating leases in new drilling areas. In rural, low-income counties such as Mora, landowners stand to make much-needed cash off agreements signed with oil and gas companies.

But fracking's total environmental cost to communities has yet to be calculated. That's not a risk Olivas wants to take. "I think the devastation of oil and gas development far outweighs the economic benefits of drilling in Mora County," he said.

Rethinking regulation

In 2004, the EPA ruled fracking fluid posed little or no threat to underground water sources and didn't warrant regulation under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act. Congress agreed in 2005 and exempted fracking fluid from oversight.

Wes Wilson, an EPA employee in Denver at the time, protested in a letter to half a dozen members of Congress and the EPA Office of the Inspector General. He said the decision was "scientifically unsound" and posed a threat to human health.

Meanwhile, fracking took off in Colorado, southern Texas, Wyoming and in the Northeast, with thousands of wells drilled in the last five years. Residents in some of the communities near the wells began complaining about the quality of the water coming out of their taps. Videos showed residents holding matches to tap water containing high amounts of methane and lighting it.

A 2008 study in Garfield County, Colo., found high levels of methane and chloride in drinking water wells after natural gas wells were drilled nearby. More than 5,000 natural gas wells were fracked in the county between 2000 and 2008.

Then in May, a study of domestic wells near natural gas fracking wells by Duke University researcher Robert Jackson and colleagues, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found evidence of methane in drinking water. "Our results ... suggest important environmental risks accompanying shale-gas exploration worldwide," the researchers noted.

Jackson, in an article published this fall in a Duke University magazine called DukeEnvironment, notes he supports natural gas development. He said it's a cleaner alternative to coal in bridging a transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy. But he advocates better safeguards before drilling begins.

Henke said methane migration hasn't been a problem in New Mexico because of strict regulations on how wells are constructed. "But if there is data indicating otherwise, we would be receptive to looking at it," he said.

The federal government called for a review of fracking. A Department of Energy subcommittee released recommendations in August that call for natural gas developers to improve air quality near wells, test water quality before drilling and disclose fracking fluid contents.

Industry steps forward

In early August, the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association took a pre-emptive step and asked the state to require companies to disclose fracking fluids 45 days after a well is complete. Companies will use a form similar to one already required by federal material safety regulations. The information must be posted on a new public website called FracFocus or submitted in writing to the Oil Conservation Division.

FracFocus was launched this year as a joint project of the national Ground Water Protection Council and the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission. Companies voluntarily post fracking fluid content to the site.

But companies still don't have to divulge specific chemical mixtures they deem proprietary.

The New Mexico Environmental Law Center and a retired solar scientist from Los Alamos National Laboratory asked the Oil Conservation Commission to require companies to disclose fracking fluids on the public FracFocus website. They also asked the commission to require companies to notify landowners of planned hydraulic fracturing.

The commission did not include either recommendation in the draft final rule approved Nov. 18.

A community prepares

Rural Mora County is peppered with small villages, expansive grass pastures and mountains. Like most of New Mexico, the county has split estate: The person who owns the land usually doesn't own the minerals underneath. Mineral owners have the right to drill, as long as they meet county and state regulations.

Santa Fe, Rio Arriba and San Miguel counties have halted or discouraged drilling and fracking with ordinances or moratoriums.

Mora County residents are split over oil and gas development. Some have already signed leases. Mineral leases on more than 144,000 acres are recorded at the County Clerk's Office.

Others, such as Olivas and Dudley, are fighting against drilling. They're tackling it on multiple fronts.

Drilling Mora County, Dudley's group, raised funds to have 14 water wells near the leased acres tested for chemicals drilling companies would likely use to frack a well. Should drilling ever start, and those chemicals show up in the water, the county can prove who's at fault.

In addition, the group is lobbying the County Commission to adopt an ordinance protecting "citizen rights to clean air and water." The ordinance was developed in Pittsburgh, and more than 100 communities around the country have adopted a version of it.

Olivas is ready, but he says the other two county commissioners want more time to study the ordinance. In the meantime, this Tuesday the commission will consider a temporary ban on drilling.

Olivas figures the county may get sued whether it passes a moratorium or the ordinance. The cash-strapped county can hardly afford a lawsuit.

A sportsman and the sixth generation of his family in the valley, Olivas said, "I would rather fight the oil and gas companies in court than have to clean up after them after they drill."

Contact Staci Matlock at 986-3055 or smatlock@sfnewmexican.com.