Pounds

Supporters of an “environmental bill of rights” charter amendment in Mansfield, OH, prevailed at the polls on Tuesday, but opponents of the measure fear it could be used beyond its intended purpose — to possibly block wastewater injection wells — and applied to other types of business.

In the environmental debates raging around natural gas and oil drilling in North America, one thing until now has not been in dispute: it takes huge amounts of water to open up reservoir fractures deep underground. However, new technologies developed in Canada, which have been tested in the United States, may offer the energy industry a waterless way forward.