Whether the reasons for secrecy are commercial or otherwise, the fact is that it has environmental disaster potential.
Natural gas fracking can make local well water explosive
extracts -
"A study, released yesterday by PNAS, now shows that fracking may be contaminating local groundwater with enough methane to pose a risk of explosion"
...!there are many old and abandoned drill sites in the area, and fracking may have opened a pathway for gas to escape into these wells."
(potential to leak into
old mineworkings?)