Pennsylvania Grandmothers Star in Global Fracking Debate

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-21/pennsylvania-grandmothers-star-in-global-fracking-debate.html


Tammy Manning, of Franklin Township, Pennsylvania

Two grandmothers in tiny Franklin Forks, Pennsylvania, have become unlikely celebrities in the international debate over the safety of hydraulic fracturing for natural gas.

Shelly DePue, who has four gas wells on her farm west of town, says fracking is safe and an economic boon. Tammy Manning, who lives across fields and forested hills a mile away, blames nearby gas drilling including DePue’s wells for threatening the health of her family.

“It’s important that people in the next town, and the next state, know what the problem is,” Manning, 44, said in an interview at her home in northeastern Pennsylvania. “If we don’t talk, we’re part of the problem.”

Their neighborhood drama is taking on greater importance as each has embraced the media spotlight to make her case. DePue starred in an industry-funded film, “Truthland,” made to defend gas drilling. Manning addressed a rally of fracking opponents outside an industry conference in Philadelphia yesterday.