Gas Wells: The Trickle-Down Effect

The Guardian is running an article by Nina Berman for Alternet about the effects of living in a gas-rich part of Pennsylvania.

The creeping arrival of industry and the intensifying manifestations of subterranean chemistry sound like a surreal alien invasion.

A blue haze can be seen between trees. Trucks routinely carry weight that exceeds limits leaving small rural roads busted and dangerous. [. . .] Accidents, overturned vehicles and speeding violations are everyday occurrences. At night the landscape is transformed as bright lights from drilling rigs appear like mini skyscrapers. Red lights from a long line of trucks, their engines running, pinpoint water intake centers

In the Spencer household, the inhabitants "leave the door open when they take showers because with no bathroom windows they are afraid the house could blow up."

"Each month" Joe Shervinski, whose water supply could be contaminated with methane like his neighbours', "fills a water jug and tries to light it as a DIY water test."

"Meet the families whose lives have been ruined by gas drilling" [Guardian], by Nina Berman (12 April 2011 16.46 BST)
Original article (April 12) at Alternet.org