Frack this gas, please

It's a fracking alternative. No, Battlestar Galactica fans, that's not a reference to the show's cursing substitute. But one way to get this nation away from foreign oil dependence is to frack this: Gas.

We've got tons of the stuff; 482 trillion cubic feet of natural gas exists in the U.S. according to Department of Energy estimates. At current fuel consumption rates, that would keep us supplied for 90 more years. After our government's recent announcement of another 10-year commitment to boost security in Afghanistan (even after the 2014 major withdrawal), securing the region's oil looks even less palatable.

So do prices. With prices at the pump sticking close to $4 per gallon, about 60 cents for the gas equivalent to power a car is appealing. To be fair, the price of liquefied natural gas fluctuates, but it's still cheaper and much cleaner than oil. Although like other extracted resources, it's not without its problems.

Fracking is the process by which natural gas (e.g., methane) is extracted from shale rock by stimulating its movement. To get it, companies drill downward until they hit shale. Then the drill bit moves horizontally, following the line of gas in the rock (guided by computerized sensors and complex software). Then a perforating gun is fed through bored holes, puncturing more holes, before chemically treated water and sand are injected under high pressure to fracture (there's that fracking word again) the shale and push out the gas.

The controversial part includes two main concerns. One, widely fracked areas can make the land look - as a Christian Science Monitor Weekly correspondent put it - like a pin cushion. Two, while uncommon, accidents do happen. No Three Mile Island fears here, but leaked gases in pipes and pressure problems in water supplies have occurred. Hurricanes have been known to knock out pipelines and disrupt service. Eventually, technology will catch up.

According the Energy Information Administration, the U.S. is already the world's largest producer and consumer of natural gas, mostly as an in-home energy source (Russia is a close second, but has the largest reserves). Yet other nations are ahead of us in driving the world's 14.8 million NGVs - natural gas-powered vehicles, such as Honda's NGV Civic. According to 2011 reports, Pakistan and Iran have the most NGVs: 22 and 16 percent of vehicles on their roads, respectively. Fewer than 1 percent of U.S. vehicles are NGVs, mostly commercial trucks. The technology is there and the mileage is much better than conventional petroleum, but a big challenge is the paucity of refueling stations, currently numbered above 1,000 nationwide according to the NGV Coalition. Only half are public.

Another concern is renewability. While a century of supply seems like a lot, some feel that shifting fossil fuel dependence from oil to natural gas is just putting off the inevitable. Those folks would like to see the focus on more quickly renewable sources, such as wind and solar energy.

Whichever way we go will take some initial investment. Be it one fuel or another, something's got to fracking give.

Sholeh Patrick is a columnist for the Hagadone News Network who thinks "frack" sounds awkward. Contact her at [email protected].