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Could This "Magic Bullet" Solve Oklahoma's Earthquake Problem?

AP photo/The Oklahoman

There are very few corners of America’s oil and gas industry that are abuzz with prospects for a bright future these days.

But one of them is the niche market for dirty-water disposal in Oklahoma.

The market is worth about $3 billion, and as Bloomberg reports, Brian Kalt thinks he has it cornered.

Kalt has a plan that will prevent producers from having to pump the wastewater produced by fracking back into the ground. Kalt’s company will extract the salt particles from the water and release the purified H2O into Oklahoma’s rivers.

How does he plan to make the scheme economically viable? That’s the clever part. Perhaps it’s no coincidence that Kalt’s name rhymes with salt, because the enterprising businessman plans to sell the leftover salt for use on snowy roads and in industrial machinery.

It remains to be seen if it will work; the plan is already drawing skepticism.