Left-wing activists are blocking a budding U.S. energy resource

In a year clouded by worries over jobs, budget deficits, and energy costs, rapid advancements in domestic natural gas production have offered a ray of hope. Innovations in horizontal drilling and a procedure known as hydraulic fracturing (or “fracking”) allow us to more efficiently and safely extract the gas trapped in our nation’s vast shale deposits. But shale gas extraction is under assault.