Md. fracking regulations include enhanced buffers around wells

Maryland’s long-awaited fracking regulations would ban drilling in three watersheds in Western Maryland and require extensive safeguards around drilling sites, protections that Secretary of the Environment Ben H. Grumbles called “the most stringent” in the country.

The proposed regulations, which the state unveiled Monday, also would allow fracking closer to homes and private wells than what was proposed by then-Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) before the legislature imposed a moratorium on the controversial gas-extraction practice that is set to expire in October 2017.

Maryland’s Department of the Environment is calling for four layers of steel casing and cement around fracking wells to prevent water, gas and other fluids from migrating to other areas, and for the monitoring of surface water and groundwater before and after drilling begins.

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