To frack or not to frack - it's not even a question anymore

Hydraulic fracturing, commonly called fracking, has been used since the 1940s. The purpose is to fracture the shale, allowing the natural gas, or oil, to flow more freely up to the wellhead. The original vertical fracking was much less damaging than is today's method of horizontal fracking, where the well is first drilled vertically, then the drill bit is turned to drill horizontally into the rock formation.

Norman Bernstein

A solution of from 3 to 8 million gallons of water per well, 5,000 to 7,000 gallons of chemicals, and silica (sand) in an amount equal to about 10 percent of the total sol...