Contaminated water catches fire from gas intrusion.
On March 10, New Jersey put a ban on the practice of hydraulic fracking for natural gas reserves. The state is following suit with New York, which instated a seven-month ban on hydraulic fracking on various natural gas drilling sites for fears of water contamination.
The bans come in response to alleged water contamination issues being reported from the neighboring state of Pennsylvania, which has been using the hydraulic fracking process to tap the large natural gas reserves recently discovered in the Marcellus shale fields. Various communities throughout the state are complaining about water pollution resulting from the chemicals pumped underground in the fracking process.