The shale boom has been criticized for years due to its water-intensive fracturing technique. The risk of aquifer contamination may be overblown, but fracking’s water usage, especially in arid environments, is still a cause for concern. Waterless fracking may provide a potential solution, avoiding the perceived waste of millions of gallons of water that is required in hydraulic fracturing. The shale oil boom that began about 15 years ago enabled the fastest growth of oil and natural gas production in U.S. history. Prior to the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, the shale boom even enabled the U.S. to briefly achieve energy independence — something that was unthinkable 20 years ago. The shale boom was enabled by the marriage of two technologies: Horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing. The combination is typically referred to as simply “fracking.” However, environmentalists have long contended that fracking threatens our water supplies. But anti-fracking sentiments […]