ABSTRACT
Examining the reclamation policy pertaining to natural gas production sites is critical, as natural gas extraction has operated at an unprecedented scale in the United States in recent years. Although reclamation policy has been addressed in a limited body of literature, a comprehensive review of the scholarship in light of policy language does not exist. Therefore, this chapter presents a literature review to examine the regulatory framework around the reclamation of natural gas production sites in the US. An illustrative case study of coalbed methane reclamation in the Powder River Basin, Wyoming, guides the review. Ultimately, it is argued that defining and implementing effective reclamation present a highly complex governance challenge due to three factors: (1) the absence of clear guidance from the scientific literature about what constitutes successful reclamation; (2) the complexity of the jurisdictional environment and the oil and gas sector; and, (3) a lack of political will in the state of Wyoming to engage in preemptive environmental regulation. These findings are closely related to what can be expected regarding the legacy of shale gas production. To avoid delayed restoration and destructive legacy issues, a revision of state and federal reclamation policy is needed to prevent the proliferation of abandoned infrastructure in shale basins and the resulting financial burden on host communities and taxpayers.
