Inject your fluid into the tight,
Where each hot gush is its own delight;
The cry: “Drill, baby, drill!”
Propels you deeper still,
So, frack those cracks both day and night.
There’s ample awe and much mystique
Around your well stimulation technique:
Down the borehole, past each seal
Through the pipe you laid with zeal
To that hydrocarbon lode you seek.
Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is a high-pressure hydrochemical-injection technique designed to extract gas and oil from shale rock or tight sands. The tight in these cases are composed of low-permeability sandstone, which produces predominantly dry natural gas. About 25 percent of all gas production in the United States derives from tight sources. This figure is expected to double by 2035. “Drill, Baby, Drill” reached the zenith of its prominence during the 2008 presidential election campaign. Sarah Palin championed it enough for countless parodies to mock her, including a Penthouse porn flick in 2009 that adopted the phrase as its title. See also the Popular Mechanics article titled “Is Fracking Safe? The 10 Most Controversial Claims About Natural Gas Drilling.”
