Environmental concerns have been commanding increased attention from the gas and oil industry as new requirements and restrictions raise the cost of exploration and production and limit access to new resources. The mission of the Department of Energy's Gas and Oil Environmental Research and Analysis Program is to maximize the production and ultimate recovery of domestic oil and gas resources by lowering the cost of effective environmental protection. The program does this by; 1) providing sound science to industry and regulators to serve as the basis for risk-based regulation and compliance, 2) providing tools to regulators for making risk-based decisions, 3) developing lower cost environmental compliance technologies, and 4) working with Federal and State agencies to streamline regulations.