Today the president announced that he is directing a host of federal agencies to better collaborate and coordinate on assorted rules governing the exploration and development of natural gas. From The Hill:

President Obama signed an executive order Friday establishing a high-level task force charged with coordinating federal oversight of domestic natural-gas development.The task force is charged with ensuring that rapidly growing efforts to tap vast natural-gas supplies in the country’s shale formations, which require advanced drilling techniques including “fracking,” are “safe and responsible.”

The news comes on the heels of expanding coverage of the facts about gas exploration. According to one recent national news report, which appeared in the Idaho Business Review, the gas extraction methods creating so much controversy have not been found to be in any way detrimental to groundwater:

An anti-fracking blog, “Arlington TX Barnett Shale Blogger,” claimed the study should be discredited because it was “industry funded.” Groat told the AAAS’s publication, ScienceNOW, that the Institute’s study was “independent” and funded by the university only. On the other hand, the notably conservative Investors Business Daily editorialized on the study, saying its findings meant that “[g]iven the facts, the Environmental Protection Agency should stop trying to demonize fracking.”