Interest heating up in natural gas market

Exxon Mobil bought XTO energy late last year, and now Royal Dutch Shell, another big operator, is investing more in US-based natural gas production by dropping $4.7 billion to pick up East Resources, an extractor of natural gas in the Northeast and in the Rockies. As I've said before, I like the investment in domestic production, and I'll like it more after the EPA has done a more thorough job of setting standards for "fracking," the environmentally damaging process of gas extraction. It seems to be better than the alternatives, but I'm sure that it can be made safer and more efficient with research.