Due to the United States’ renewed interest in becoming energy self-sufficient, drilling for oil and gas in parts of the U.S. has accelerated to a fever pitch. Couple that with the increase in hydraulic fracturing, and there are many thousands of employees working each day on oil and gas drilling sites throughout the country.
Hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” is a process used to “stimulate” well production in the oil and gas industry. It is not a new process, but its use has increased significantly in the last 10 years because of new horizontal drilling and multi-stage technologies that improve access to natural gas and oil deposits. It involves pumping large volumes of water and sand into a well at high pressure to fracture shale and other tight formations, allowing oil and gas to flow into the well.