On March 20, the Obama administration released a new set of federal regulations concerning hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in the United States. The rules require oil companies to release a list of chemicals used in the fracking process and make the list available to the public. They also set new safety standards concerning the storage of chemicals on drilling sites. The new rules set down by the U.S. Department of the Interior will regulate nearly 100,000 oil wells located on public land. The rules go into effect June 18 and are first in a series of rules intended to govern fracking in the United States.
