Environmentalists have welcomed a recent vow by Mexican President-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador to halt his country’s efforts to tap reserves of natural gas and oil through the hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, of rock in underground shale formations. But in the wake of López Obrador’s seemingly offhand pledge, some green advocates are withholding final judgment until a formal prohibition is enacted on the controversial practice, which many experts criticize as environmentally destructive. “[W]e need to legally ban it because having the commitment of the incoming president is something, but it’s not the same as having it on paper,” says Claudia Campero of the Mexican chapter of Food and Water Watch, an international nonprofit. At the same time, though, some industry analysts question how Mexico will meet its energy needs if the incoming administration takes the country’s reserves of “unconventional” hydrocarbon resources such as shale gas and oil off... [Log in to read more]