EPA Gives "Green Light" to Frackers -- The Bakken, North Dakota, USA -- For Investors Only

Link here to MarketWatch.com.

At least one other "celebrity" has talked about last week's EPA announcement concerning fracking (I won't mention names -- I don't want folks to stop reading -- smile). Kirk Spano (at the link) is the second I've come across.

The EPA announcement did not make headlines; in fact, I think it was announced pretty much outside the normal news cycle, but I can't say for sure. I didn't make much of it at the time because I am too much of a cynic when it comes to the EPA and the current administration. I pay less attention to what they say, and more attention to what they do.

But in this case, I may be wrong. This may be a bigger deal than folks realize, especially for investors. At the link:

Last week, tucked into the headlines was a story describing how the Environmental Protection Agency decided to give oil and gas companies until 2015 to fully comply with so-called "green completions" for their hydraulic fracturing operations. In the near term, this move removes the risk for companies engaged in "fracking" of having the EPA slow their high growth via the rapid implementation of new rules.

Kirk Spano argues that two things will follow from the EPA announcement:

a) the announcement itself will encourage investors to invest in the Bakken; it removes (albeit temporarily) the EPA's sword of Damocles hanging by a single thread over companies like CLR and Oasis; and,
b) if EPA is true to its word, it makes it easier for Bakken companies to meet their production goals

For investors, Kirk mentions the following companies:

• CLR
• Apache
• National Oilwell Varco (nice building/complex west of Williston)
• Baker Hughes (huge new complex west of Williston)
• Carbo Ceramics (in discussions to build North America's largest ceramics distribution complex near Dickinson)

It is interesting to note that Kirk did not provide names of companies involved in manufacturing the natural gas / liquids separators that will benefit from the EPA rules that now go into effect in 2015.