Climate change is a global environmental threat that will have increasingly undesirable effects around the world in our lifetimes. International negotiations to limit the emissions of long-lived greenhouse gases (GHG) have not yet succeeded in placing needed limits on emissions. There is a very real possibility that current emissions of GHG have already committed the world to “dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system”. There are, however, domestic initiatives to reduce GHG emissions. Our workshop will examine opportunities to reduce methane emissions from the extraction of natural gas from shale via hydraulic fracturing. Methane is a powerful short-lived (12-year lifetime) greenhouse gas (approximately 20 (50) times as potent as carbon dioxide over 100 (20) years with a lifetime of about 12 years) that also contributes to the formation of surface ozone that harms human health, agriculture and ecosystems. Combustion of methane leads to less carbon dioxide (CO2) emission than combustion of coal, per unit heat obtained, and thus can result in a decrease of CO2 emissions. However, if sufficient methane leaks, the use of natural gas can be worse for climate than burning coal. The United States is now in the midst of a shale gas boom that has dramatically increased natural gas production (and likely leakage), decreased energy domestic energy prices, created jobs, and raised the ire of environmentalists due to its methane leakage and use and contamination of water resources. The objective of the workshop is to develop a set of state policy recommendations for governors to consider on how to reduce gaseous emissions and water impacts from shale gas development and distribution.