“This is a revolution that is not only going to affect North America, but many other places in the world,” Caveney pointed out. “Argentina is considered to have some of the best rocks.”

Caveney is quick to emphasize, though, that “this is not a slam dunk.” Those opposed to this type of energy development and the industry as a whole — much like the NIMBYs of the aggregates industry — “are pressuring the government to put more and more regulations on the industry, which will limit availability and its use.”

He also added that natural gas underwent many of the same hurdles. “There was legislation that controlled the price of natural gas because of concern there wasn’t enough supply,” Caveney said. “They made it equivalent to putting a man on the moon. This proved to be a fallacy.”

AggBeat to Go

To get daily news updates from AggBeat Online, scan this tag with your smart phone.