“When I moved to Billtown, I worried most about whether fracking tainted groundwater. By the time I left the area, my biggest concern was whether the liberty granted to citizens to lease their land, or to otherwise act in ways that limits others’ access to environmental goods, taints democracy.”
Fracking
The Boom and Bust Cycles of Rock Springs, Wyoming
“The day I turned 18, the Astro Lounge called and asked me to come strip for them. I have no idea how they knew I’d turned 18.”
‘Writers tell’: The Devastating Contrasts in Life, Death, and West Virginia
“Twelve years later, I birthed my son on my sister’s death day.”
The Female Fracker: A Rare Species in North Dakota
Imagine being the only woman living with 200 roughnecks — risking your personal safety every day — just to make a buck.
It Takes a Boom
In an essay adapted from The New Wild West: Black Gold, Fracking, and Life in a North Dakota Boomtown, Blaire Briody profiles female fracker Cindy Marchello, who survived hellish working conditions and rampant misogyny trying to earn a living in service of big American companies thirsty for oil.
A look at how residents in Arkansas are dealing with the health implications of drilling for natural gas in their communities: Keith didn’t want to think about Iraq, but the tankers and water trucks reminded him of the vehicles he’d seen in Iraq’s oil fields. In Iraq, if an eighteen-wheeler pulled up on him, it […]
In Amwell Township, your opinion of fracking tends to correspond with how much money you’re making and with how close you live to the gas wells, chemical ponds, pipelines and compressor stations springing up in the area. Many of those who live nearby fear that a leak in the plastic liner of a chemical pond […]