Tim Ruggiero: Leaving Gasland

While the following was written by a gentleman living and experiencing fracking in Texas, the parallels with what's going on in Pennsylvania's backyards couldn't be clearer.  His essay is incredibly moving.  Here is an excerpt:

"Someone asked if I felt we had ‘won or lost’, obviously looking for details. That got me to thinking.

Regardless of where one lives in Gasland, whether it is the urban setting or rural, I’m hard pressed to say that there is no such a thing as ‘winning’, only degrees of losing...

When the drillers first show up, one loses any sense or belief one has about personal property rights. One learns the hard way the definition of ‘split estate’, and that somewhere along the line, someone decided that mineral rights trump all other rights, including any one thought they had according to the U.S. Constitution...."

Read the remainder of the essay...