Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Fracking
The Oil Extraction Process Is Surrounded by Myths and Misconceptions, but How Will It Actually Impact the Environment?
In California, few environmental issues are as hotly debated as fracking. Short for “hydraulic fracturing,” fracking is a process of drilling for gas and oil by blasting a high-pressure watery mixture into shale, an underground sedimentary rock, to release natural gas and petroleum. This natural gas is cheaper and cleaner to burn than coal, but many environmentalists argue that fracking still spells disaster for the state. So what are the real environmental consequences of the practice?
A Zócalo/UCLA “Thinking L.A.” event at the RAND Corporation explored the roots of the …
