Fracking: Could Mexico's Water Scarcity Render Its Energy Reforms Self-Defeating? Dolia Estevez - Forbes
go to original July 8, 2014

In many countries, including the U.S., France, Germany, Ireland, The Netherlands and Australia, fracking has been partially banned or delayed on environmental concerns. Also known as hydraulic fracturing, fracking is a controversial oil and gas producing method that relies on injecting massive amounts of water, chemicals and sand into the earth to break up rocks to free up oil and gas reserves buried deep underground.

Cities in California, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Colorado, Hawaii and New Mexico, have temporarily or permanently banned fracking. Last month, the city of Canandaigua in New York State, voted 8-0 to permanently ban it. In May, Santa Cruz became the first California County to ban fracking, and in November Colorado could become the first state to put fracking on the ballot.

Yet the government of Mexico, which has largely suppressed national debate on a highly unpopular energy reform that will end the state’s 75-year old control of the oil industry, has fully embraced fracking as an alternative to its declining energy production. Mexico, the third-largest exporter of crude oil to the U.S, has seen its oil output fall around 25% over the past decade.

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