Technology responds to regulation and economics

The oil and gas industry is the model for ingenuity and industrial creativity. I'm pretty confident that given time, the industry will eventually be able to pull oil and gas out of the sky. Of course, that is hyperbole but you get the analogy. Technology has opened up new reserves and will continue to open up new reserves and perhaps give life to wells and fields that were thought long dead.

Now, the downside to this is that regulations are always outpaced by technology and the regulations that do come up to respond to technology are usually reactionary and ill-conceived (see FRAC Act). That does not mean the regulations do not become effective. When they do, industry hems and haws about the regulations but after the belly-aching, industry evolves. Industry evolves faster than regulation and industry learns to work with the regulations, utilizing technology and creativity to tap reserves safely.