Fracking - The New Energy Rush

Professor Iain Stewart

Horizon

Professor Iain Stewart

I'm Iain Stewart and I'm on the trail of what is perhaps the most important geological story right now. The quest for a new source of power found deep beneath the earth… which could change the lives of us all.

Its discovery has sparked a rush for energy in America… for a type of gas that appears cheap and plentiful. And with just one way of getting it out of the ground – hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking". What is this energy lifeline that's shaping up to be the saviour of America? As a geologist I want to know what it means for the planet, and for us.

I'm going to meet some of the people who have become rich from this new energy rush.

I'm starting off in the eastern state of Pennsylvania. The people here have long looked to the rocks that surround them for new sources of power and wealth. What's wonderful about geology, really, is this feeling that you can read the rocks, read the landscape, every valley and hill tells a story about the planet's past. And if you go back far enough, this region here was once a swampy forest. And that's left its legacy in the thick coal deposits that underlie this area, that's made Pennsylvania famous, made it rich. And that's the point, really, is that the towns and cities that have flourished here in the past, their success was down to the rocks and the minerals beneath their feet.