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The DivideRange Resources and other energy companies operate on farmland and near homes in southwestern Pennsylvania.For Chris and Stephanie Hallowich, who live on a hillside hub of the Marcellus shale boom, the new industrial neighbors provoke fear that they and their children, now 6 and 9, face health risks from polluted water and air. In a larger sense, they also worry that the rural way of life in this part of the world is being wiped out by an industry that seems to them to operate with little oversight or control. But longtime landowner Beverly Romanetti and her family, who lease their farmland for drilling and operate a small business that services the natural gas industry, see things differently. "What they have given back to every inch of this county is amazing," Romanetti says.Read articles, "A Dream Dashed by the Rush on Gas" and "A Drive for Jobs Through Energy"
Photograph by Scott Goldsmith, National Geographic

Shale Gas Drilling: A Changed Environment

The shale gas industry maintains that its safeguards and post-drilling restoration work protect drinking water and land. But there have been accidents, and mistrust has been sown as the industrial process has moved into rural communities.

Published October 23, 2010