Fracking, Quakes, and Drinking Water: Your Questions Answered
We answer reader questions about the controversial method of extracting oil and gas known as hydraulic fracturing.
Does it really cause earthquakes? What about the impact on drinking water? These and other questions, including one about dinosaurs, surfaced when we asked what you want to know about fracking.
Some recognize the word as an expletive from the series Battlestar Galactica, but most know it as the more common version of frac—the industry term for hydraulic fracturing, the process used to extract oil and gas from the ground.
The controversial practice has revolutionized the oil and gas industry, leading to a U.S. energy boom. It’s also raised a lot of questions. Here are some of yours.
Unknowns still exist, but there's little doubt that fracking activity does cause earthquakes, an issue raised by several readers including Quimby, above, and