The effects of the downturn are similar everywhere: The once-plentiful drilling rig jobs that often paid $100,000 a year have vanished, as have many of the people who came to oil and gas regions looking for those jobs.
He heard talk around town about plentiful work in North Dakota, where new drilling technologies are driving an oil boom.
The plentiful oil and gas from the drilling boom has reduced America's dependence on foreign oil to levels not seen in decades, and has contributed to falling oil prices.
But Mr. Martens said that existing treatment sites for nonhazardous waste are more plentiful and could safely handle wastewater from drilling with "modest" modifications in their operations.
Of these factors, the availability of a relatively close and plentiful water supply is crucial to the drilling process, as millions of gallons of water are required by the fracturing technology.
Practice datasets are plentiful.
Others pursued work in Texas's energy boom, where both drilling and construction jobs have become more plentiful.
But so far it has been drilling mainly in North America, where land is plentiful and people are accustomed to the sight of oilmen's detritus.
With supplies plentiful and prices low, there is no reason to drill in this sensitive area or expend a resource that may be required later.
ACT II Over three decades he built an awesome land machine, gobbling up 13.7 million acres to drill mostly for natural gas a fuel that is plentiful, cheap, clean and, McClendon says, can power America.
His company counted on support from various government agencies, including those that mapped the shale reserves (demonstrating that they were plentiful) and promoted the development of technologies such as diamond-studded drill bits.
