Authors

Stephanie Kuros

Class Year

1420099200

Document Type

Feature

Publication Date

2014

Abstract

Many people are concerned about the risks that hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) poses to groundwater due to the extremely high pressure in which fracking fluid is injected into natural gas wells. The process involves the use of a specially blended liquid (i.e. fracking fluid) which is pumped into a well under extreme pressure causing cracks, or fractures, in underground rock formations to stimulate production from new and existing oil and gas wells. As oil and gas companies work to fix fracking’s public image with regard to water contamination, states are considering what level of transparency to demand from the oil and gas industry. One way to address contamination concerns is to require the use of well-specific tracers in fracking fluid so that alleged contamination can be traced back to its source.

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