Legal Research On Shale Gas Associated Water Resources Problem In China-Compare And Contrast With Code From United States

Shale gas is a form of natural gas which is trapped in the shale geological formation. Therefore, shale gas shares the same properties as conventional natural gas, which are clean and non-renewable. For its vast reserve, shale gas has been considered a potential energy supply that could mitigate the international wide energy scarcity. In recent years, major technological breakthrough has been made on horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing aspects, which results in great reduction in extraction expenses, thereafter, makes the large scale extraction possible. Hence, the potential of shale gas as an alternative energy supply has brought worldwide attention.It has been speculated China has one of the greatest shale gas throughout the world. In spite of the temptation of its lucrativeness, China also consider the development shale gas an opportunity to improve its national wide energy supply structure. Henceforth, great amount of investment has been made in the shale gas theoretical research and excavation technology by government branches, scientific research department as well as energy companies. However, as the scale of shale gas extraction expands, environmental complications have been revealed, especially the ground water contamination and over use of water resource issues.Since both the shale gas study and practice in China are still at the beginning stage and the associated legal formulation is far from mature, study other country’s shale gas associated legal development and learn the lessons learned by predecessors would be a rational approach in improving and perfecting China’s shale gas related law and regulations. For United States has the longest history, largest scale and most mature law and regulations in shale gas extraction, learning America’s experiences will be invaluable to China’s shale gas industry development.In this research, based on environmental law, the inappropriate and insufficient points in China’s water related law and regulations for shale gas has been assessed. With regarding to the respective points, the legal solutions provided in United State code has been studied and analyzed. On the basis of current China’s water related law and regulations, suggestions to further improvement have been made so as to guarantee the development of prominent shale gas industry as well as to preserve the healthiness of environment.