Tag Archives: hydro-fracturing

What Is Marcellus Shale/Delaware Basin Fracking?

Fracking is an abbreviation for hydro-fracturing, a practice in which a cocktail is made of chemicals and thickeners mixed with water drawn from local water supplies and injected deep underground to force natural gas trapped in shale to rise to the surface, where it is captured and can be sold. Once used, treated water that rises to the surface cannot be reused because it becomes way too contaminated. Much of the water stays trapped in the shale and can neither rise nor filter down into underground aquifers which would bring it through soil to be cleansed before depositing it into natural bodies of water

There are deposits of shale throughout the United States, but the Marcellus Shale formation is the biggest one in the country and the 2nd largest in the world.

The New York City Council has a great synopsis about why fracking shouldn’t be allowed in the Delaware River Basin where the Marcellus Shale formation sits.

Other Green Wei blog posts relating to fracking:
Dangers of Fracking – Fracturing Shale With Water
Act For a Permanent Ban on Delaware Basin Fracking