State plans closer look at drilling water (UALR Public Radio) - The top state environmental regulator her agency will increase inspections of areas where drilling companies store water used in boring through rock to reach natural gas deposits.

Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality Director
Teresa Marks said Friday that companies now send test samples to the department but that she wants the agency to start conducting its own tests.

Drilling has expanded rapidly across the Fayetteville Shale in north-central Arkansas, where higher natural gas prices have made it economically feasible to probe more difficult areas to extract gas. Drilling sites have lined storage ponds that contain water and rock from the drilling process.

Marks says random inspections at the ponds are to start immediately.



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