vii
Preface
Many people by now have heard the term “fracking,” and most know that it is related
to the production of petroleum and natural gas. There are numerous concerns about
the impacts fracking may have on the environment, and quite a few environmentalists and political leaders are calling for it to be banned altogether. Movies like
“Gasland,” reinforced by viral posts on social media, have linked fracking in popular culture to air pollution, damage to the environment, contamination of surface
water and groundwater, and risk to human health. Other films like “FrackNation”
claim that environmental activists and the media have suppressed any and all facts
that show the process does not harm the environment.
So who is correct? Is it really that bad or not? There are a lot of complexities and
nuances in any detailed response to that question, but the short and unsatisfying answer is that we don’t know.
What we do know is that the use of fracking has substantially increased the production of domestic oil and gas (O&G) in the United States, essentially doubling it
over the past decade. This was actually a long-term American national goal following the OPEC oil embargo and the resulting “energy crisis” in the 1970s. Abundant
production of shale gas and tight oil through the use of fracking has freed the United
States from the need to import petroleum to meet energy demands and greatly
increased the abundance of natural gas. America is less vulnerable to threats from
the politics of oil, at least for now.
The politics have not gone away however, but have merely changed strategy.
Fracking reversed the role of the United States in global energy politics from
importer to exporter, much to the dismay of established petroleum exporting countries like Saudi Arabia and Russia. These countries have in fact made it their goal to
shut down US tight oil and shale gas production by any economic means possible,
but primarily through price wars. The production of O&G from resources that
require hydraulic fracturing is more expensive than conventional O&G production.
Thus, the “break-even” cost for energy resources produced through fracking is generally higher than for those that are not. As long as worldwide oil and gas prices
remained high, this didn’t matter, but once they dropped below the threshold for
Preface
Many people by now have heard the term “fracking,” and most know that it is related
to the production of petroleum and natural gas. There are numerous concerns about
the impacts fracking may have on the environment, and quite a few environmentalists and political leaders are calling for it to be banned altogether. Movies like
“Gasland,” reinforced by viral posts on social media, have linked fracking in popular culture to air pollution, damage to the environment, contamination of surface
water and groundwater, and risk to human health. Other films like “FrackNation”
claim that environmental activists and the media have suppressed any and all facts
that show the process does not harm the environment.
So who is correct? Is it really that bad or not? There are a lot of complexities and
nuances in any detailed response to that question, but the short and unsatisfying answer is that we don’t know.
What we do know is that the use of fracking has substantially increased the production of domestic oil and gas (O&G) in the United States, essentially doubling it
over the past decade. This was actually a long-term American national goal following the OPEC oil embargo and the resulting “energy crisis” in the 1970s. Abundant
production of shale gas and tight oil through the use of fracking has freed the United
States from the need to import petroleum to meet energy demands and greatly
increased the abundance of natural gas. America is less vulnerable to threats from
the politics of oil, at least for now.
The politics have not gone away however, but have merely changed strategy.
Fracking reversed the role of the United States in global energy politics from
importer to exporter, much to the dismay of established petroleum exporting countries like Saudi Arabia and Russia. These countries have in fact made it their goal to
shut down US tight oil and shale gas production by any economic means possible,
but primarily through price wars. The production of O&G from resources that
require hydraulic fracturing is more expensive than conventional O&G production.
Thus, the “break-even” cost for energy resources produced through fracking is generally higher than for those that are not. As long as worldwide oil and gas prices
remained high, this didn’t matter, but once they dropped below the threshold for