Frack is a funny word with a gamut of connotations.

 

For the oil industry, hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, presents the opportunity for an unprecedented energy boom in the United States, and all the glory and riches that come with it. For environmentalists, the concept of injecting toxic chemicals into rock formations to extract natural gas probably looks like shooting Mother Nature with a machine gun. Not to mention its potential repercussions, from methane leakage to water contamination.