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What the frack?
By dwray in The nature of things
January 18, 2011

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And no, this has nothing to do with Battlestar Galactica (though it'd be more than an eensy bit cooler if it did). For those who don't know, hydraulic fracking is the process of fracturing rocks to get either natural gas, oil or water flowing back up out of the ground. The process has been around for about 60 years, but is relatively new to the U.S. It involves forcing tons of water and chemicals and things down into the ground to break said rocks up.

Fracking has been a much discussed issue of late. Environmentalists have been up and arms about the technique, which is seeing a lot of use in the U.S. because the companies don't have to reveal what kinds of chemicals and things they actually force into the ground to get the goodies flowing to the top.

At the same time, a new type of fracking was used in West Texas to great success, pulling the Permian Basin out of a slump that had threatened the area's energy-pinned economy, in a story reported by Texas Monthly.

Meanwhile, last June, Vanity Fair reported on the giant mess hydraulic fracking can create, as natural gas fracking is endangering the Delaware, one of the cleanest rivers in the U.S.

Either way, government-type people like Interior Secretary Ken Salazar are talking about the possible need for regulation, and money from both sides has started flowing in.

We all know how money works in politics - whoever gets the most of it tends to win the argument, the debate or the election. Congress won't be going anywhere near regulating the hydraulic fracking of natural gas, but the Department of the Interior might and if we follow the money, according to ProPublica, the fight is already weighted against regulation, indeed, since the politicians against it have already gotten way more money.

I don't know whether fracking should be allowed or eliminated. It just seems a bit lousy, basing decisions on who lines pockets well enough. What the frack, indeed.