The new EPA data is "kind of an earthquake" in the debate over drilling, said Michael Shellenberger, the president of the Breakthrough Institute, an environmental group based in Oakland, Calif.

NPR: EPA Methane Report Further Divides Fracking Camps

"As moderates in the gas industry and in the environmental community work together more in coming years to improve drilling practices, I think you will see the extremes in both camps become increasingly marginal and isolated, and I think that's a good thing, " environmentalist Michael Shellenberger wrote in an email.

WSJ: Fracking coalition upsets both greens and drillers