Book Discussion 1- Josh Boen, Bishal Dahal, Alex Munson

` The introduction introduces us to the main premise of the book and the two opposing
viewpoints through two people, George and Cindy. George is a country boy who loves the land
his father passed down to him and he fully supports fracking on his property. However, as time
goes on, he notices the land he once loved becoming soiled and perverted by the fracking taking
place below his land. He holds to his beliefs but seems to regret the hasty decision of allowing
them to frack. Cindy is a city girl who convinced her husband to buy a house in rural
Pennsylvania and she despises fracking and actively attempts to keep frackers away from her
land. She joins an anti-fracking group and attempts to raise awareness about the issue, but in the
end, she also signs a contract to allow fracking under her property. She says that it was “the only
possible compensation for the deteriorating quality of life she had involuntarily endured.”
Jerolhack uses this example to illustrate the ill effects of fracking, a topic which he launches into
describing throughout the rest of the intro. He describes the intense political battles being fought
over the right to frack, the questionable reason that New York banned it, and the surprising
amount of support it has from landowners whose property is fracked.
The beginning chapter starts off with a very in-depth detail on where the author lives, he
later starts drifting off into the history of the Pennsylvania town of Billtown, and why these
details make it so famous. The history and specific concepts the author used to give us a long
summary of the town showed us many sociological concepts. In the middle of the 1800s, two
businessmen and Peter Herdic purchased a Boom Company which led them to fortunes and
ultimately gave them leverage to grow the surrounding area. Fast forward a few years, and
Billtown's population went from 5,664 to 27,132 people. Opportunity in the town led to more
businessmen coming in, different cultures, and seeing how different groups affected the entire
population. Floods in the late 1880s through the early 1890s led to the near-death of the lumber
mill, and many houses being destroyed. Lumber was booming in Billtown before this had
happened. Williamsport helped re-manufacture the town and get it back on its feet, employing
people in the process. To wrap things up, the industrialization, and growth of a small town will
most certainly cause diversification, but it will also bring corruption with opportunity, crime will
rise, and many other aspects of sociology will be able to be studied.
In the Second Chapter, the author introduces us to more detail about Russell Poole who
referred to himself as “A libertarian at heart”. A man who was very involved in the way of the
land, looking at the small town in Pennsylvania as a “recession-proof town in the middle of a
recession” (Jerolmack pg. 48). Russ looked at fracking as the medicine of healing the economy,
not by just the landowners getting paid, but ultimately the sight of seeing it revive dead
communities. The town became the epicenter of the fracking industry, as opportunists came from
all places to work with Russell. Also in the chapter along with the many individual stories that
were difficult to keep track of, the author informs us that the idea of fracking, although the idea
and concept seem horrendous, may be the only possible outcome to avoid the inevitable “rust
belt decline” and make America take a large step to energy independence.
 The five major themes we found in these chapters were Qualitative Research,
Microsociology, Sociological Imagination, Ethnography, and Secondary Data. Qualitative
research is focused less on numbers and statistics and is instead about the perspectives and views
of the people who are being interviewed. It is clear that at this point in the book the author is far
more concerned with non-numerical data like interviews and history than a statistic.
Microsociology is used quite frequently in what we have read so far in the book. It is a concept
of analysis that takes a small group of people to understand how that group affects the larger
population. In chapters one and two the author gives us many examples of how these small
groups have altered the pattern and the structure of Billtown whether it be positive or negative.
To give a specific example is that lumber workers which were responsible for the lumber boom
made very little money, while the industry owners reaped the rewards. It shows how small
groups affect the entire population. Sociological Imagination is the ability to understand “the
intersection between biography and history,” or the interplay of the micro-world of the self and
the macro world of explaining things in a condescending way. The author is describing the study
of social life and the real world in chapters one and two which is identical to the relationship
between our individual circumstances and larger social forces. Ethnography is a naturalistic and
qualitative method of studying people in their own environment to understand the meaning they
attribute to their activities. A key feature of this method is fieldwork; research takes place in
naturally social environments out in the real world. In chapter two the writer is talking about
social life and likewise about the real world in chapter one. Secondary Data research is
conducted through existing sources and historical records. This type of research can be seen
throughout chapters one and two. By using the history of these towns, the author can better paint
a picture of how Billstown became a fracking haven.

When addressing the complaints about fracking, one might assume that the major
problems people might have would be the economic effects, or the legal work required.
However, according to the book, the things that people were annoyed by were the general
invasion of privacy, damage to their property, and other “minor indignities”. George specifically
mentioned that he had relinquished his land sovereignty to a company that didn’t care for him or
his land. These people are also likely regretting their decision because of the environmental
damages caused by fracking.

Questions
Why doesn’t the government provide regulation to something that is so destructive to the
environment and surrounding life?
Are there any state and federal laws that protect the environment; such as air, and water
pollution, wildlife, and people from fracking?
How is fracking different today, and is it safer and less harsh to the surrounding life?