Gasland

There is no such thing as bad publicity. But the PR adage seems to have been overlooked by the US energy lobby, whose attacks on a documentary on natural gas drilling have increased the film's pre-Oscar buzz. The attacks - including a demand to strike the film, Gasland, from contention for the Academy Awards - have brought a fresh burst of public attention to the documentary as well as its subject, a controversial method of natural gas extraction known as hydraulic fracturing. news.reportlinker.com


Hydraulic fracturing

Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is the process whereby rock formations deep below the Earth's surface are cracked and held open with chemicals and proppants in order to allow the gas that is trapped within the rocks to escape upward so that it can be collected. The chemicals that are used to hold the fractures in the rock formation open are currently industry trade secrets, protected much like the formulas for Coca-Cola or pharmaceutical drugs are. examiner