Calling it “nuclear stimulation technology,” the Nixon administration exploded nearly half a dozen atomic weapons in the American West in the hopes of solving what was then feared a coming natural-gas shortage.

Until now little has been written about this forgotten effort in energy development, which called for detonating thousands of warheads under the earth’s surface to break up rock formations containing gas and oil deposits.

A total of five bombs were set off in Colorado and New Mexico. However, federal officials soon realized that there was a major problem with the plan…nobody wanted to buy natural gas that might be tainted with radioactive gas.

The government gave up on the ambitious idea in the 1970s. Exploding bombs as an energy program appeared to have ended up being nothing more than a bizarre episode in U.S. history…but now it may be coming back to haunt some people in Colorado.

A new method of accessing natural gas is surging. Hydraulic fracturing, better known as “fracking,” entails injecting millions of gallons of chemicals, sand or fluids into a well to crack open the rocks and allow easier access to the natural gas. Fracking has been accused of dangerously polluting water supplies. Its extension, disposing of wastewater from the natural gas drilling into injection wells, is suspected of causing earthquakes in Arkansas.

Recently, the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission issued permits for natural gas drilling within three miles of two of the “nuclear stimulation technology” detonation sites. Commission officials insist that the all is safe and there is no cause for alarm. However, nearby property owners are distrustful of the state government.

In December 2008, two Garfield County couples, Cary and Ruth Weldon and Wesley and Marcia Kent, who live near the site of a 1969 nuclear blast, sued the commission to stop Encana Corporation from drilling within three miles of the detonation. The case is still bouncing around the Colorado court system.

-David Wallechinsky