Fracking is causing nearby home values to fall, suggest attorneys from Ballard Spahr in a webinar titled “Oil and Gas Exploration for Mortgage Bankers.” Natural gas drilling wells are popping up more across the country. The technology, known as “fracking,” is making it easier to mine for natural gas reserves but, in a growing number of cases, these shales filled with natural gases are being mined in populated neighborhoods. 
Fracking causes decreases in home values of from 4 to 15 percent, according to the Ballard Spahr attorneys. Fracking is being linked to declines in property values because of the unknown and potentially dangerous elements involved in fracking, the attorneys say. For example, some have accused fracking of causing contaminated water, polluted air, and even earthquakes. Studies are being done to study the full effects of fracking, but with unknowns persisting, it’s causing home values to go down, attorneys said during the webinar.
“This is not a short-term boom” either, said Harry Weiss of Ballard Spahr’s Enviornment and Natural Resources Group, who noted that more states are beginning to allow drilling. “This is a many, many year process. Someday, somewhere, somehow, you’re going to see it everywhere.”
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Source: HousingWire 04/22/2014
