Talking Fracking & “The Boom” With Russell Gold [AUDIO]

Fracking is one of the most talked-about issues in the country today and recently we had one of the most knowledgeable reporters on the subject on the show to discuss.

Russell Gold is an investigative journalist and energy reporter at the Wall Street Journal. His new book, "The Boom: How Fracking Ignited the American Energy Revolution and Changed the World" has just been released. In it, Gold recaps the rise of fracking and horizontal drilling and tries to answer a complicated question: are the benefits worth the potential risk? Can it be done safely now and in the years to come?

Riley asked the author for his opinion of the process based on what he saw first-hand:

From what I've seen they can [do it right]. This is an industrial process. When you're drilling and fracking as well it's going to be noisy, it's going to be an inconvenience. And then, guess what? A month later when it's gone, it's quiet. It's not a huge intrusion. And a lot of the concerns about water and about air...they can be addressed with...common sense solutions.

Here's the full interview. We also talked with Russell about whether he's seen any reports of water pollution, what the economic impact of fracking can be, and if we're closer to the beginning or end of The Boom: