The progress during December, 1977 of the major government sponsored endeavors undertaken to increase gas production from the low permeability gas sands of the western United States is summarized. The USGS is continuing geological and geophysical studies in the four major western basins to better characterize the resource base. Shipping arrangements for the core donated to the USGS by Inexco WASP (a well drilled for possible nuclear explosive stimulation in Wyoming) have been made, and cores for macrofossil and ostracode analysis from the Bowdoin Dome area have been collected. The National Laboratories, funded by DOE, are continuing their work in the area of research and development. The emphasis is on the development of new tools and instrumentation systems, rock mechanics, mathematical modeling and data analysis. Field tests and demonstrations active in the Uinta and Piceance Basins are Gas Producing Enterprises (GPE) Natural Buttes, Wells No. 14, 18, 19, 20, 21, and 22; Mobil Research and Development, Well No. F-31-13G; and Rio Blanco Natural Gas Company, Well No. 498-4-1. Colorado Interstate Gas Company has initiated activity on its project with the installation of equipment, and Mitchell Energy Company's proposal to conduct an MHF test in the Cotton Valley lime gas reservoir in Texas is nearing the contract negotiation stage.