Fracking

That has got to be a little weird. You turn on your kitchen sink water faucet, hold a match above the water, and blam, your eyebrows are singed.

Blame the flammable water on fracking.

Fracking is a deep mining technique that opens up fissures into the water table. Thank GWB and his administration for making it more common and not just a method of last resort.

Truthdig: Cracking Down on Fracking

His tap water catches fire.


Fracking is used to access natural gas and oil reserves buried thousands of feet below the ground. Companies like Halliburton drill down vertically, then send the shaft horizontally, crossing many small, trapped veins of gas and oil. Explosive charges are then set off at various points in the drill shaft, causing what Fox calls “mini-earthquakes.” These fractures spread underground, allowing the gas to flow back into the shaft to be extracted. To force open the fractures, millions of gallons of liquid are forced into the shaft at very high pressure.


The high-pressure liquids are a combination of water, sand and a secret mix of chemicals. Each well requires between 1 million and 7 million gallons of the fluid every time gas is extracted. Drillers do not have to reveal the chemical cocktail, thanks to a slew of exemptions given to the industry, most notably in the 2005 Energy Policy Act, which actually granted the fracking industry a specific exemption from the Safe Drinking Water Act.

Q and A from the director of 'Gasland' which shows fracking -