Fracking creates once-in-a-generation boom in U.S. oil, gas drilling - Post Bulletin

The oil and gas business is full of gamblers who drill deep and often, praying for gushers but frequently ending up with dry holes.

Then there is Richard D. Kinder, chief executive of Kinder Morgan, who has personally made billions of dollars operating the industry's equivalent of a toll road: pipelines.

Now, with Kinder Morgan's $21 billion deal to buy a leading rival, the El Paso Corp., he is doubling down.

Hydraulic fracturing techniques — despite causing a growing controversy — are creating a once-in-a-generation boom in oil and gas drilling in the United States, and the opportunity to build many more pipelines to carry new supplies to market.