Freeing oil and gas deposits from its shale, tight sand and coalbed methane coverings was first done with explosives in 1865. Using pressurized fluid and sand, hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, was invented in 1947 and commercialized by Haliburton in Kansas in 1949.
Beginning in the 1990s, the process, combined with horizontal drilling, started the methane gas and oil boom we’re still experiencing today. The United States is the leading exporter of liquified methane gas and produced more oil in 2024 than any country in history.
During this time, fracking has remained remarkably exempt from regulation. The 2005 Safe Drinking Water Act made no mention of fracking. Fracked oil and gas cleared $3.5 trillion in 2012 to 2014. In a capitalistic society, that’s some serious scratch and makes it immune to regulations, even those that protect human health.
Don’t look to the current federal administration to restrain fracking in any way. President Donald Trump has appointed, and Colorado Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper have confirmed, Coloradan Chris Wright to be Secretary of Energy.
Wright was the CEO of Liberty Energy, which has fracked 20% of all U.S. onshore wells, and was the founder of Pinnacle Technologies, which developed fracking and horizontal drilling. Guess which kind of energy Wright is going to favor.
Fracking fluid is so toxic the industry won’t reveal what’s in it. They say it’s a trade secret. Earthworks provides a list of 75 fracking fluid chemicals with 10 or more negative health effects.
A single fracked well can use 1.5 to 40 million gallons of water per year. That’s 250 billion gallons total, much of it in the parched West. And once it’s gone, it’s gone for good. Used fracking fluid has no other use.
Fracked oil is lighter than the product from non-fracked wells. Most U.S. refineries aren’t set up for it. That’s why fracked oil is generally exported, while the heavier material from Venezuela, Canada and Mexico is imported.
I’ve learned recently that some geothermal wells may be fracked. That gives me another reason to oppose that process of puncturing the Earth Mother’s skin to suck out her precious bodily fluids.
Longmont in Boulder County attempted to ban fracking in 2016, but was shot down by the Colorado Supreme Court with justices appointed by Governor John Hickenlooper, a former geologist for the industry, earning him the moniker “Governor Frackenlooper.”
Fracking has been banned in Vermont, New York, Washington and California. Plans by 350 Colorado and Safe and Healthy Colorado to put an initiative on the ballot to ban fracking by 2030 were derailed by Governor Jared Polis’ agreement with the industry to stop the “ballot measure wars.” Now, these nonprofits will wait until Polis is out of office before they move forward with such a ballot issue.
Mind you, nobody’s proposing “defracking” existing wells. Any ban would apply only to new drilling.
Make no mistake about it, banning all new fracking would mean halting all new oil and gas extraction. Drilling without fracking wouldn’t be economically feasible. Wouldn’t that be a shame?