A resurgent green movement is launching a multi-pronged counter-attack against the shale oil and gas boom in the United States that could slow, though ultimately not stop, development.
Building upon their unexpected success in the battle against the Keystone XL pipeline, a renewed onslaught from environmentalists is putting the shale industry on the defensive while adding to costs, limiting expansion and potentially scuttling major projects.
"I think it's the totality of what's going on all at once, that's the biggest concern," said Barclay Nicholson, a lawyer for the Washington-based Fulbright & Jaworski law firm, which has represented companies involved in shale development.
With new oversight pending from federal and state authorities and lawsuits, Nicholson said critics of shale development have a plethora of avenues to fight back.
Environmentalists, alarmed at what they see as unchecked industrialization of rural areas, say they are working to secure more regulation of the rapidly growing shale industry to protect fragile areas from damaging practices.
After legislation aimed at addressing climate change failed to make it into law last year, green groups have been forced to take a more piece meal approach to energy policy.
That strategy worked well against TransCanada's proposed Canada-to-Texas Keystone XL pipeline, which environmentalists successfully turned into a potent symbol of the threat of carbon-intensive oil sands crude.
TVNL Comment: The battle is not between environmentalists and corporations. It is between people who want to LIVE and breathe uncontominated air and drink uncontaminated water and those who want to profit at any cost to others. Join in. They can be defeated.