An incredible story of how the American energy revolution could have been stopped in its tracks, but was accidentally saved.

SPECIAL REPORT: Special Report: How 'Halliburton Loophole' Spawned the Shale Boom 

 http://www.energyintel.com/Pages/Eig_Article.aspx?DocId=827579

Although technologies such as horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing are largely credited with clearing the path for the US unconventional gas revolution, the origins of the "shale boom" can also be traced to language buried within a 551-page energy bill enacted in 2005.

Known as the "Halliburton Loophole," Section 102 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 banned the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from regulating hydraulic fracturing under its underground injection control program.

This spared oil and gas firms from red tape and litigation that would have been possible under regulation by the EPA -- which can exert control even on private land, where shale gas has blossomed in recent years.