In May of 2010, The Daily Star sent former reporter Tom Grace and photographer Brit Worgan to Dimock, a rural town of about 1,400 people in northern Pennsylvania.
We wanted to see the effects the pursuit of natural gas had on the lives of residents in drill-happy Pennsylvania before the heavy equipment invaded our part of the huge Marsellus shale territory.
While there was little doubt that some in the small village benefited financially from the visitors and business generated by the drilling practice known as horizontal hydrofracturing _ or fracking _ what our story and photos revealed was beyond disturbing.
There was so much methane in Dimock that some folks could turn on the faucet and light their water on fire.
Grace spoke to Dimock resident Norma Fiorentino, whose two water wells on her 2.9 acres couldn't produce drinkable water anymore. Then, on New Year's Day in 2009, one of her wells exploded.
"I was at my daughter's for dinner," she said. "Lucky thing I wasn't here."
We wanted to see the effects the pursuit of natural gas had on the lives of residents in drill-happy Pennsylvania before the heavy equipment invaded our part of the huge Marsellus shale territory.
While there was little doubt that some in the small village benefited financially from the visitors and business generated by the drilling practice known as horizontal hydrofracturing _ or fracking _ what our story and photos revealed was beyond disturbing.
There was so much methane in Dimock that some folks could turn on the faucet and light their water on fire.
Grace spoke to Dimock resident Norma Fiorentino, whose two water wells on her 2.9 acres couldn't produce drinkable water anymore. Then, on New Year's Day in 2009, one of her wells exploded.
"I was at my daughter's for dinner," she said. "Lucky thing I wasn't here."
Daily Star.com
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