‘Monster Fracks’ Are Getting Far Bigger. And Far Thirstier

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https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/09/25/climate/fracking-oil-gas-wells-water.html

By Hiroko Tabuchi and Blacki Migliozzi, The New York Times.

Excerpt: Giant new oil and gas wells that require astonishing volumes of water to fracture bedrock are threatening America’s fragile aquifers. ...energy giants are drilling not just for oil, but for the water they need. ...Along a parched stretch of La Salle County, Texas, workers last year dug some 700 feet deep into the ground, seeking freshwater. Millions of gallons of it. The water wouldn’t supply homes or irrigate farms. It was being used by the petroleum giant BP to frack for fossil fuels. The water would be mixed with sand and toxic chemicals and pumped right back underground — forcing oil and gas from the bedrock. ...Fracking a single oil or gas well can now use as much as 40 million gallons of water or more. These mega fracking projects, called “monster fracks” by researchers, have become the industry norm. They barely existed a decade ago. Now they account for almost two out of every three fracking wells in Texas....

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