There was another working theory among Range employees as they searched for a money trail leading to the Smiths: the money was coming from Russia and being funneled through a foundation like Heinz in an attempt to disrupt the U.S. energy industry.

If he was in fact a guinea pig for industry while they were cashing life-changing checks, then it followed that the landowners were making that money at the cost of someone’s health.

Before fracking technology broke through, the United States imported almost two-thirds of its oil. A decade later, that figure would drop to one-fifth. The development of domestic energy resources also played a role in bringing manufacturing jobs back to the United States, to the very same rust belt communities hardest hit by their disappearance.

The increasing crusade mentality risked hurting Harley and Paige by keeping them perpetually trapped in a story of victimhood.

Rural citizens lived alongside industry for generations, taking jobs and small payouts for mineral leases. Often, they acquired a sophisticated understanding of property and mineral rights, becoming well versed in the history and value of what lay beneath their feet. This arrangement also helped people remain on their land long after farming was

So much was out of her hands: What if one of her new neighbors signed a gas lease and one morning she woke up to a well site? What if she or one of the kids contracted cancer; would their cancer insurance actually cover the cost? Her mouth tasted of ash—cortisol, the aftermath of adrenaline. Overwhelmed with catastrophic fantasies, she went to see

Along with the drilling boom, the plague of opioids was hitting Washington County ever harder. Some people said the out-of-town gas workers were bringing in drugs, and while that may have been true, Stacey knew the scourge of prescription painkillers had been worsening before the gas well workers had arrived. She

From its beginnings, however, the conservation ethic was sharply curtailed by the coal industry.

He told Stacey that he’d counted 250 trucks passing her farmhouse, which sat 30 feet from the narrow dirt track of McAdams. It was like living next to a highway. Stacey couldn’t believe how much dust the trucks kicked up.