Q 01/05

Project Gasbuggy, a 1967 US government test in New Mexico, tried to shatter gas-bearing rock using what?

A) Liquid nitrogen

B) A nuclear bomb

C) Rocket fuel

D) Compressed steam

Answer · why

B) A nuclear bomb

A nuclear bomb of 29 kilotons was detonated 4,227 feet underground as part of Operation Plowshare, a program seeking peaceful uses for atomic explosio...

Q 02/05

Which 2010 documentary by Josh Fox made fracking a national issue with scenes of tap water set alight?

A) Split Estate

B) FrackNation

C) Gasland

D) Chasing Ice

Answer · why

C) Gasland

Gasland was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and became a rallying point for the anti-fracking movement.

Q 03/05

Cheap natural gas from fracking sped the decline of which fuel, long the leading source of US electricity?

A) Coal

B) Uranium

C) Fuel oil

D) Biomass

Answer · why

A) Coal

Coal produced 51% of US electricity in 2001 but about 16% by 2023, as cheaper gas and renewables pushed plants to close.

Q 04/05

Which US state suffered a magnitude 5.8 earthquake near Pawnee in 2016, amid a surge tied to its oil industry?

A) Arkansas

B) Oklahoma

C) Louisiana

D) Wyoming

Answer · why

B) Oklahoma

Oklahoma's Pawnee earthquake of September 2016 was the strongest ever recorded in the state, five years after another damaging quake struck near the t...

Q 05/05

The Bakken formation, named after a local farmer, fueled a fracking-driven oil boom centered on which US state?

A) Nebraska

B) Minnesota

C) North Dakota

D) South Dakota

Answer · why

C) North Dakota

North Dakota farmer Henry Bakken owned the land where drillers first found the rock, which lies entirely underground with no outcrop at the surface.