Nice post Heltfeil.
The administration is doing the right thing. Permitting fracking on full-scale production without knowing the enviromental and health risks would be a complete disaster for any stakeholder. Public health is the single most important thing for any administration. Industry cannot always be trusted, they need regulations and incentives to move forward. However, regulations should not be a problem as long as fracking is enviromentally sustainable and viable. Know-how can always be acquired or by entering a partnership unless QEC is the best in this field. I am not sure on this :) The key question is whether or not shale gas industry is sustainable. If it is not, it is dead on arrival.
As far as the scientific purposes go, I think exploration is just that. I am no oil & gas engineer, but I would anticipate that while exploring you would want to maximise shale gas output taking into account the enviroment and public health which in my mind is a 'scientific' approach. Maybe I am wrong but this approach should be done by any serious gas company anyway.
