Across the United States, more than 15.3 million residents have become neighbors to a new gas or oil well since 2000. The fracking-based energy boom is bringing "unprecedented industrialization" to backyards throughout the U.S.
"Across the U.S., new oil and gas wells have turned millions of people into the petroleum industry's neighbors," write Russell Gold and Tom McGinty. "For many, the oil and gas companies are welcome newcomers bearing checks. Others consider the new arrivals loud, smelly and disruptive."
"The energy boom has stirred dreams the U.S. could end its reliance on foreign oil, though that remains a long way off," they add. "But the energy isn't coming from a small number of immense wells in some distant oil field. It is coming from hundreds of thousands of small wells that now blanket entire counties."
"As a result, parts of the U.S. face unprecedented industrialization."
FULL STORY: Energy Boom Puts Wells In America's Backyards
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