As hydrofracking has grown, more attention is being paid to this natural-gas drilling method

Consumer Reports News: July 01, 2010 11:52 AM

If you're a fan of the Battlestar Galactica series, you might be familiar with the term "frack," a made-for-TV, sanitized version of a widely used expletive that has a range of meanings and uses, including fracking.

In modern-day parlance, fracking has taken on a far different sense as it relates to the drilling of the massive reserves of natural gas around the country, as we detailed in Buzzword: Shale Gas and a follow-up post on this drilling technique. It's a good bet that quite a few expletives are being thrown about on all sides of the debate when it comes to fracking—also known as hydraulic fracturing, hydrofracking, and water fracturing. If you're interested in learning more about this controversial boom in natural-gas drilling, here's some worthwhile summer watching and reading to do:

HBO is airing Gasland, a compelling documentary by filmmaker Josh Fox that's self-described as "part verite travelogue, part expose, part mystery, part bluegrass banjo meltdown, part showdown." And over on VanityFair.com, writer Christopher Bateman and photographer Jacques del Conte explore hydrofracking in " A Colossal Fracking Mess."

For even more details and background on hydraulic fracturing, check out the Buried Secrets series by the investigative journalists at ProPublica.org. The graphic below, created by Al Granberg and being used courtesy of ProPublica, details how hydrofracking works.

—Steven H. Saltzman

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As hydrofracking has grown, more attention is being paid to this natural-gas drilling method

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