Slick water : fracking and one insider's stand against the world's most powerful industry

Summary: Years after Jessica Ernst’s well water turned into a flammable broth that even her dogs refused to drink, the biologist and long-time oil patch consultant discovered that energy giant Encana had secretly fracked hundreds of gas wells around her home, piercing fresh water zones including the community’s drinking water aquifer. Since then, her ongoing lawsuit against Encana, a government ministry, and the Alberta Energy Regulator has made her a folk hero in many places worldwide where fracking is underway or is being contemplated. In this powerful work of investigative journalism, Andrew Nikiforuk interweaves Ernst’s story and legal ordeal with the raw history of fracking and the technology's growing impact on people, land, and water. Slick Water raises dramatic questions about the role of Big Oil in government, society’s obsession with mining low-grade oil and gas formations, and the future of democracy.