From another comment in a thread last week about the same subject: "I'm currently working in the industry in the Permian Basin area (Texas/New Mexico) and can

From another comment in a thread last week about the same subject: "I'm currently working in the industry in the Permian Basin area (Texas/New Mexico) and can say that my main concern is environmental. With the fracking operations, you get a huge load of oil, saltwater, and sand/crud/junk/chemicals. They truck them to a SWD disposal facility (my company does PLC's and controls etc for these) which then separate the oil out. The problem is that, at most of the SWD disposal places I have been too, disposal consists of pumping the junk/crud/chemical water straight back into the ground. They say they drill below the Ogallalah aquifer, but what if they don't? Having actually been a contractor for one of the bigger public oil companies, I can just say I don't really trust them to do things like that properly, and my guess is that within a few years we will find out, oh shit, "Someone poisoned the water hole". That's when T. Boone Pickens will unleash his high-priced water. I don't thing people realize how close the south is to major water shortages and is vulnerable to a drought. Hopefully this upcoming winter will help offset some of that."