To frack or not to frack?

Don't think this is really a question up for debate. The economic activity, and the increase in oil supply, are too good to pass up. But this Eagle article about the safety concerns reminds us that it should be done with proper regulation and oversight. Yes oil companies don't want to be hamstrung by regulation, but think if one disaster occurred that marred or shut down the pending oil boom here in south-central Kansas.

There are some local oil men that think tat horizontal drilling using fracking is coming to Cowley County in the next few years and will likely create a boom for us.

Here's a decent definition of fracking, from the Bakersfield Californian:

Fracking, pioneered in the 1940s, injects a mixture of water, sand and small concentrations of toxic chemicals into oil and gas wells at high pressure in order to break up rock formations, prop them open and tap petroleum deposits that are otherwise too difficult to reach.