Fracking is still in the news big time. Recently, Hollywood got into the act with "Promised Land," a movie starring Matt Damon.

The movie takes place in Pennsylvania and Damon stars as an energy company employee attempting to buy mineral rights from landholders, so that the natural gas reserves beneath their property can be recovered. The movie takes an anti-fracking stance.

So let's review what fracking is.

Natural gas is known to exist in large quantities in the U.S. in deep shale deposits often a mile or more below land surface. Previously, the gas was not recoverable by conventional drilling.

More recently, deep drilling techniques have been developed to extract the gas. Wells are drilled vertically to the gas-bearing deposits and then horizontally into them. This alone doesn't recover the gas.

After the well has been drilled, cemented and cased, fracking is used to recover the gas. Fracking involves the injection of high volumes of fluid and a propping agent into the well under high pressure. The fluid is made up of large volumes of water and often toxic chemical additives. The propping agent usually is sand.

Together these materials fracture and "prop" open the formation releasing natural gas. When the pressure on the well is released, some of the fracking fluid and formation water flow to the surface before natural gas begins to flow.

Horizontal drilling began in the late 1990's. The American Petroleum Institute estimates that since then, hydraulic fracturing has been used in 33 states on more than a million wells (both natural gas and oil). Probably the best-known are the shale deposit is the Marcellus Formation in New York and Pennsylvania.

Major gas deposits underlie areas of Arkansas and Texas. More recently the Bakken Formation in North Dakota and Montana has been in the news.

So if horizontal drilling and fracking are so widespread, why are they so controversial? Done correctly, isn't this a clean and safe method to recover a resource we desperately need? One could easily answer, absolutely, but the key operating words are "done correctly."

Let's review some of the concerns that have been raised about fracking. I don't have space to describe these concerns other than to list them. They include greenhouse gas emissions; impacts on both surface and groundwater; wastewater disposal; truck traffic; land surface disruption; surface spills; and runoff. Not all the concerns relate to drilling and the fracking process. But, if it weren't that drilling was occurring, truck traffic and land surface disruption would not be issues.

So, how are horizontal drilling and fracking regulated?

Presently they are regulated by a large number of existing laws mostly at the state level. Some say this is not adequate, that increased federal involvement is necessary. Others say increased federal involvement is unnecessary.

The EPA is studying fracking and in 2012, released a draft of proposed regulations for fracking on public land. The proposed rules include, a) full disclosure of all fracking chemicals; b) guidelines for well casing; and c) water management plans including wastewater. EPA regulations are due out in 2014.

Fracking is not likely to be an issue in Northern Virginia, but still should concern all of us, pro or con.

Before beginning this column, I saw the new movie, "Promised Land." While biased, it does mention some pros for fracking, as well as the cons. I recommend you see the film, before you make up your mind about fracking.