Amity and Prosperity: One Family and the Fracturing of America

“This wasn’t just Stacey’s personal narrative; this was the story of the region. With steel gone and coal on its way out, communities were turning to ‘meds and eds,’ hospitals and universities, now the largest employers. As a nurse, Stacey, in scrubs, would have a demanding but stable place in the sterile halls of a postindustrial landscape.”

Though she initially went to beauty school, Stacey finds work as a nurse in a hospital—a common job in Washington County. Though the area had once been prosperous due to the presence of the coal industry, by the early 2000s these jobs have largely left the region, leaving many in Washington County in need of money. While some find employment in “hospitals and universities,” like Stacey, many more are left unemployed and searching for ways to make money.

“Yet signing a lease wasn’t just about money. Stacey also saw it as her patriotic duty. She, like many Americans, was tired of the United States sending troops to fight wars for oil.”

Griswold argues that people’s willingness to lease away their land to Range Resources went beyond simple financial motivations. Many Americans, like Stacey, see domestic fracking as a possible solution for the nation’s ongoing energy crisis. Fracking on American land could give the country enough natural resources so that it no longer must rely on foreign oil imports.

“And [Tony] Berardi believed he was helping people like Stacey who lived ‘on the front lines’ of the gas rush. That was the term for such places, ‘frontline communities,’ as if they were at war with extractive industries.”

Tony Berardi is Range Resources’ community liaison, tasked with managing the relationship between Range and the residents whose land they wish to drill on. Though Berardi’s purpose is to make sure that Washington County residents are happy with Range’s presence, Griswold emphasizes that he uses military language in describing those very residents. Griswold suggests that there are more nefarious motivations underneath Berardi’s cheery surface image.