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NEW YORK — A different kind of F-word is stirring a linguistic
and political debate as controversial as what it defines.

The word is "fracking" — as in hydraulic fracturing, a
technique long used by the oil and gas industry to free oil and
gas from rock.

It's not in the dictionary, the industry hates it, and
President Barack Obama didn't use it in his State of the Union
speech — even as he praised federal subsidies for it.

The word sounds nasty, and environmental advocates have been
able to use it to generate opposition — and revulsion — to what
they say is a nasty process that threatens water supplies.

"It obviously calls to mind other less socially polite terms,
and folks have been able to take advantage of that," said Kate
Sinding, a senior attorney at the Natural Resources Defense
Council who works on drilling issues.

One of the chants at an anti-drilling rally in Albany earlier
this month was "No fracking way!"

Industry executives argue that the word is deliberately
misspelled by environmental activists and that it has become a
slur that should not be used by media outlets that strive for
objectivity.

"It's a co-opted word and a co-opted spelling used to make it
look as offensive as people can try to make it look," said
Michael Kehs, vice president for Strategic Affairs at
Chesapeake Energy, the nation's second-largest natural gas
producer.

To the surviving humans of the sci-fi TV series "Battlestar
Galactica," it has nothing to do with oil and gas. It is used
as a substitute for the very down-to-Earth curse word.

Michael Weiss, a professor of linguistics at Cornell
University, says the word originated as simple industry jargon,
but has taken on a negative meaning over time — much like the
word "silly" once meant "holy."

But "frack" also happens to sound like "smack" and "whack,"
with more violent connotations.

"When you hear the word 'fracking,' what lights up your brain
is the profanity," says Deborah Mitchell, who teaches marketing
at the University of Wisconsin's School of Business. "Negative
things come to mind."

Obama did not use the word in his State of the Union address
Tuesday night, when he said his administration will help ensure
natural gas will be developed safely, suggesting it would
support 600,000 jobs by the end of the decade.

In hydraulic fracturing, millions of gallons of water, sand and
chemicals are pumped into wells to break up underground rock
formations and create escape routes for the oil and gas. In
recent years, the industry has learned to combine the practice
with the ability to drill horizontally into beds of shale,
layers of fine-grained rock that in some cases have trapped
ancient organic matter that has cooked into oil and gas.

By doing so, drillers have unlocked natural gas deposits across
the East, South and Midwest that are large enough to supply the
U.S. for decades. Natural gas prices have dipped to decade-low
levels, reducing customer bills and prompting manufacturers who
depend on the fuel to expand operations in the U.S.

Environmentalists worry that the fluid could leak into water
supplies from cracked casings in wells. They are also concerned
that wastewater from the process could contaminate water
supplies if not properly treated or disposed of. And they worry
the method allows too much methane, the main component of
natural gas and an extraordinarily potent greenhouse gas, to
escape.

Some want to ban the practice altogether, while others want
tighter regulations.

The Environmental Protection Agency is studying the issue and
may propose federal regulations. The industry prefers that
states regulate the process.

Some states have banned it. A New York proposal to lift its ban
drew about 40,000 public comments — an unprecedented total —
inspired in part by slogans such as "Don't Frack With New
York."

The drilling industry has generally spelled the word without a
"K," using terms like "frac job" or "frac fluid."

Energy historian Daniel Yergin spells it "fraccing" in his
book, "The Quest: Energy, Security and the Remaking of the
Modern World." The glossary maintained by the oilfield services
company Schlumberger includes only "frac" and "hydraulic
fracturing."

The spelling of "fracking" began appearing in the media and in
oil and gas company materials long before the process became
controversial. It first was used in an Associated Press story
in 1981. That same year, an oil and gas company called Velvet
Exploration, based in British Columbia, issued a press release
that detailed its plans to complete "fracking" a well.

The word was used in trade journals throughout the 1980s. In
1990, Commerce Secretary Robert Mosbacher announced U.S. oil
engineers would travel to the Soviet Union to share drilling
technology, including fracking.

The word does not appear in The Associated Press Stylebook, a
guide for news organizations. David Minthorn, deputy standards
editor at the AP, says there are tentative plans to include an
entry in the 2012 edition.

He said the current standard is to avoid using the word except
in direct quotes, and to instead use "hydraulic fracturing."

That won't stop activists — sometimes called "fracktivists" —
from repeating the word as often as possible.

"It was created by the industry, and the industry is going to
have to live with it," says the NRDC's Sinding.

Dave McCurdy, CEO of the American Gas Association, agrees, much
to his dismay: "It's Madison Avenue hell," he says.

The rest is here:
Fracking fracas: No energy industry backing for the word 'fracking'