I have an article request for your writing team: the threat of water contamination, including to the Chesapeake Bay, resulting from the process of hydraulic fracturing used by natural gas companies, and their arrival to Maryland.

Hydraulic fracturing is a process where natural gas companies drill 5,000-plus feet beneath the surface of the earth into shale deposits, or rocks that contain natural gas. In order to extract the gas, they use a mixture of sand, hundreds of thousands of gallons of fresh water, and toxic chemicals to break the gas away from the shale and bring it to the surface.

Hydraulic fracturing has been under extreme scrutiny by both environmentalists and concerned citizens alike. The concern stems from the threat posed to the nation's water supply by the toxic, unregulated, and often undisclosed chemicals the companies use. In 2005 when Congress passed the Energy Policy Act, it specifically exempted natural gas companies from the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act and a host of other federal regulations designed to protect the environment. The lack of regulation that ensued has already led to the contamination of drinking water in many states, including Pennsylvania.

Natural gas companies have plans, if they haven't implemented them already, to begin natural gas drilling in Maryland using the process of hydraulic fracturing. This is an outrage—if one thought chicken manure was a cause for concern (which I'm not denying), the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing are unspeakably worse – and the arrival of natural gas drilling in Maryland poses an even greater threat to the Chesapeake Bay cleanup initiative than anything our community has experienced thus far.

I believe that if enough media act on this suggestion then we will be increasing the chances that the Chesapeake Bay restoration strategy will be successful.

Paul Campochiaro