As the world's easy-access oil supplies dry up, North America is increasingly turning to unconventional sources—such as drilling in the deep sea, mining oil sands, and using hydraulic fracturing (fracking) to recover oil and natural gas from shale deposits—to feed our cars and power plants. The unconventional hydrocarbon industry has been growing rapidly in recent years. Shale gas production in the Northeast United States is increasing by 25 percent each year, while shale oil production at the Bakken formation in North Dakota is increasing by 35 percent a year.

Despite the rapid growth, many questions remain about the impact of these new extraction techniques on the environment, the economy, and human health.