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Under the Surface: Fracking, Fortunes, and…
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Under the Surface: Fracking, Fortunes, and the Fate of the Marcellus Shale (edition 2012)

by Tom Wilber (Author)

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423593,071 (3.86)None
Running from southern West Virginia through eastern Ohio, across central and northeast Pennsylvania, and into New York through the Southern Tier and the Catskills, the Marcellus Shale formation underlies a sparsely populated region that features striking landscapes, critical watersheds, and a struggling economic base. It also contains one of the world's largest supplies of natural gas, a resource that has been dismissed as inaccessible-until recently. Technological developments that combine horizontal drilling with hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") have removed physical and economic barriers to extracting hundreds of trillions of cubic feet of gas from bedrock deep below the Appalachian basin. Beginning in 2006, the first successful Marcellus gas wells by Range Resources, combined with a spike in the value of natural gas, spurred a modern-day gold rush-a "gas rush"-with profound ramifications for environmental policy, energy markets, political dynamics, and the lives of the people living in the Marcellus region. Under the Surface is the first book-length journalistic overview of shale gas development and the controversies surrounding it.Control over drilling rights is at stake in the heart of Marcellus country-northeast Pennsylvania and central New York. The decisions by landowners to work with or against the companies-and the resulting environmental and economic consequences-are scrutinized by neighbors faced with similar decisions, by residents of cities whose water supply originates in the exploration area, and by those living across state lines with differing attitudes and policies concerning extraction industries. Wilber's evenhanded treatment gives a voice to all constituencies, including farmers and landowners tempted by the prospects of wealth but wary of the consequences, policymakers struggling with divisive issues, and activists coordinating campaigns based on their respective visions of economic salvation and environmental ruin. Wilber describes a landscape in which the battle over the Marcellus ranges from the very local-yard signs proclaiming landowners' allegiances for or against shale gas development-to often conflicting municipal, state, and federal legislation intended to accelerate, delay, or discourage exploration.For millions of people with a direct stake in shale gas exploration in the Marcellus or any number of other emerging shale resources in the United States and worldwide, or for those concerned about the global energy outlook, Under the Surface offers a worthwhile and engaging look at the issues.… (more)
Member:ozbook
Title:Under the Surface: Fracking, Fortunes, and the Fate of the Marcellus Shale
Authors:Tom Wilber (Author)
Info:Cornell University Press (2012), Edition: 1, 280 pages
Collections:Your library
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Tags:Oil and Gas

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Under the Surface: Fracking, Fortunes, and the Fate of the Marcellus Shale by Tom Wilber

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In-depth coverage of the beginnings of the fracking of the Marcellus shale in the northern tier of Pennsylvania (where it proceeded) and the southern tier of New York (where it was put on hold). The author spent considerable time in Dimock and gave a good sense of the dangers faced there; unclear from this whether those dangers apply beyond Dimock. ( )
  pheinrich | Jan 22, 2017 |
A great deal of technical reading but very informative. If you weren't opposed to fracking before reading this book, you will be when you are done. It is another case of rapacious corporations following the profit god without any regard for the environment or people. ( )
  VGAHarris | Jan 19, 2015 |
Wilber, a journalist for seventeen years with the Binghamton (NY) Press & Sun-Bulletin, has written an account of the impact of natural gas fracking in the Marcellus Shale of New York and Pennsylvania. [Fracking has also ocurred in the Marcellus Shale in Texas and Oklahoma with some of the same problems appearing.] Focusing mostly on the stories of individuals, he explores the science of fracking, the actions of the landmen who come offering leases, and the arrogance of the oil companies when confronted about problems such as torn up roads and exploding wells. He also discusses the effects of fracking on land owners and communities, the differing regulatory response of Pennsylvania and New York and the conflicting interests of different industries about creating new markets for natural gas.

For the rest of my review, see my blog;
http://mdbrady.wordpress.com/2012/05/29/under-the-surface-fracking-by-tom-wilber...
  mdbrady | May 29, 2012 |
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Running from southern West Virginia through eastern Ohio, across central and northeast Pennsylvania, and into New York through the Southern Tier and the Catskills, the Marcellus Shale formation underlies a sparsely populated region that features striking landscapes, critical watersheds, and a struggling economic base. It also contains one of the world's largest supplies of natural gas, a resource that has been dismissed as inaccessible-until recently. Technological developments that combine horizontal drilling with hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") have removed physical and economic barriers to extracting hundreds of trillions of cubic feet of gas from bedrock deep below the Appalachian basin. Beginning in 2006, the first successful Marcellus gas wells by Range Resources, combined with a spike in the value of natural gas, spurred a modern-day gold rush-a "gas rush"-with profound ramifications for environmental policy, energy markets, political dynamics, and the lives of the people living in the Marcellus region. Under the Surface is the first book-length journalistic overview of shale gas development and the controversies surrounding it.Control over drilling rights is at stake in the heart of Marcellus country-northeast Pennsylvania and central New York. The decisions by landowners to work with or against the companies-and the resulting environmental and economic consequences-are scrutinized by neighbors faced with similar decisions, by residents of cities whose water supply originates in the exploration area, and by those living across state lines with differing attitudes and policies concerning extraction industries. Wilber's evenhanded treatment gives a voice to all constituencies, including farmers and landowners tempted by the prospects of wealth but wary of the consequences, policymakers struggling with divisive issues, and activists coordinating campaigns based on their respective visions of economic salvation and environmental ruin. Wilber describes a landscape in which the battle over the Marcellus ranges from the very local-yard signs proclaiming landowners' allegiances for or against shale gas development-to often conflicting municipal, state, and federal legislation intended to accelerate, delay, or discourage exploration.For millions of people with a direct stake in shale gas exploration in the Marcellus or any number of other emerging shale resources in the United States and worldwide, or for those concerned about the global energy outlook, Under the Surface offers a worthwhile and engaging look at the issues.

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