To harvest oil and gas from deep rock layers, the fossil fuel industry uses a process called “slick water” hydraulic fracturing, also called fracking, that uses millions of gallons of water per well laced with sand and a chemical cocktail to fracture the rock and release trapped oil and gas.

To find out more about fracking, water and shale, please visit our FACTS section.

If you’d like to add your own definition please visit the public square to INTERACT. This is your town meeting, the kitchen table, the soapbox where you can be heard by recording your voice, adding a photo and writing to us. Join the table with your neighbors at the Voices from the Shale, the Images from the Shale and the Shale Salon. Start a conversation about one of our radio shows, a video, a photograph, living on the shale, your community and…?