November 13, 2012

Environmental Impacts of Shale Development and Hydraulic Fracturing: Key Legal Issues and Future Directions

Co-sponsored by the Environmental Law Institute and ALI CLE

ALI CLE and the Environmental Law Institute offered a five-part series on shale drilling and hydraulic fracturing that offered an in-depth examination of the environmental law and policy issues facing companies, governments, activist groups, and citizens who are concerned about this critical area of our nation’s energy infrastructure.

These seminars were designed as a "deep-dive" into this controversial area, putting politics aside and looking for the real legal and policy issues we face and searching for upcoming trends that may accelerate or slow the dramatic expansion in shale development in an environmentally responsible way. The faculty was composed of the nation’s foremost experts, and each panel presented a balance of perspectives. This series neither supported nor condemned development of shale oil and gas or the use of hydraulic fracturing or other innovations in extraction, but sought to highlight the environmental legal and policy issues raised by the increasing extraction of shale oil and gas in many areas of the country.

The series included:
Session 1: Post-Election Law and Policy Directions for Shale Drilling (November 13, 2012)
Session 2: Science Update and Frontiers (November 29, 2012)
Session 3: State and Regional Regulatory Trends (December 14, 2012)
Session 4: Role of Localities and the Public in Shaping Drilling’s Future (January 10, 2013)
Session 5: Litigation Environment for Drilling and Hydraulic Fracturing (January 23, 2013)

To view information on any/all of the 5-part special series on "Environmental Impacts of Shale Development and Hydraulic Fracturing: Key Legal Issues and Future Directions," all of which are available on-demand, please go HERE.