"Wilber's patience in condensing a wealth of information into a highly readable and coherent expose on this very current and important topic is enhanced by his storyteller's eye for the all-too-human quandaries involved and makes for a highly engaging, at times truly riveting, read," says Lynn

Running from southern West Virginia through eastern Ohio, across central and northeast Pennsylvania, and into New York through the Southern Tier and the Catskills, the Marcellus Shale formation underlies a sparsely populated region that features striking landscapes, critical watersheds, and a struggling economic base. It also contains one of the world's largest supplies of natural gas, a resource that has been dismissed as inaccessible-until recently. Technological developments that combine horizontal drilling with hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") have removed physical and economic barriers to extracting hundreds of trillions of cubic feet of gas from bedrock deep below the Appalachian basin. Beginning in 2006, the first successful Marcellus gas wells by Range Resources, combined with a spike in the value of natural gas, spurred a modern-day gold rush-a "gas rush"-with profound ramifications for environmental policy, energy markets, political dynamics, and the lives of the people living in the Marcellus region. Under the Surface is the first book-length journalistic overview of shale gas development and the controversies surrounding it.

Control over drilling rights is at stake in the heart of Marcellus country-northeast Pennsylvania and central New York. The decisions by landowners to work with or against the companies-and the resulting environmental and economic consequences-are scrutinized by neighbors faced with similar decisions, by residents of cities whose water supply originates in the exploration area, and by those living across state lines with differing attitudes and policies concerning extraction industries. Wilber's evenhanded treatment gives a voice to all constituencies, including farmers and landowners tempted by the prospects of wealth but wary of the consequences, policymakers struggling with divisive issues, and activists coordinating campaigns based on their respective visions of economic salvation and environmental ruin. Wilber describes a landscape in which the battle over the Marcellus ranges from the very local-yard signs proclaiming landowners' allegiances for or against shale gas development-to often conflicting municipal, state, and federal legislation intended to accelerate, delay, or discourage exploration.

For millions of people with a direct stake in shale gas exploration in the Marcellus or any number of other emerging shale resources in the United States and worldwide, or for those concerned about the global energy outlook, Under the Surface offers a worthwhile and engaging look at the issues.

Lynn says:
"One of the more notable voices this month joining the chorus of concern over hydraulic fracturing (or 'fracking') to get at natural gas was James Hansen's in an op-ed in the New York Times(5-10-12). Hansen calls what's going on 'a frantic stampede to extract every fossil fuel through mountaintop removal, longwall mining, hydraulic fracturing, tar sands and tar shale extraction, and deep ocean and Arctic drilling.' The trouble with fracking is that an enormous amount of water (another arguably even more precious resource) is required in the process and that, despite industry claims to the contrary, many drilling methods, including fracking, put water sources at great risk of contamination. If you are a person who pretty much takes for granted the ability to turn on the tap and trust that potable water will reliably keep coming to you with ease, consider the experiences of a community of Dimock, Pennsylvania residents, who initially saw the split estate arrangement (when the landowner has surface rights to their land, but a petroleum corporation has the go-ahead to do whatever it takes to get at the natural gas 'under the surface') as a tremendous windfall of luck, but over time came to regret that their homes sat atop such a coveted resource.

In Under the Surface, author Tom Wilber reveals the complexities of life for those determined to extract every drop of what they see as a 'clean', job-producing 'bridge fuel' that liberates our nation from dependence on foreign oil vs. those determined to prevent what they see as a nightmarish waste or misuse of water and human skill that is despoiling communities, dividing neighbor against neighbor, postponing dealing with the root problem of oil/gas addiction, and, ultimately, harming the planet for short-term gain.

Wilber has been reporting on the interests and challenges of all constituencies involved in fracking for years, and this book focuses in particular on putting the current controversies in Pennsylvania and upstate New York in blow-by-blow historical context. We meet a range of fascinating characters that span from those with the power to make, bend and break the rules of resource extraction with near total impunity to those for whom nothing short of a ban on fracking is acceptable. They have been battling it out via home-rule charters and packed town hall meetings to regulate and ensure transparency in an environment where all odds seem stacked in favor of more and more drilling.

One incident of semi-local interest is that of a gas roughneck whose chemical exposure sent him to Mercy Regional Medical Center in Durango in spring of 2008. Cathy Behr, who treated the man ,became seriously ill after breathing the vapors from the victim.  Doctors were unable to determine the chemicals that had poisoned her due to what is termed 'the Halliburton Loophole', which exempts the industry from having to divulge specific 'proprietary' chemicals used.  Lucky for Cathy, she recovered despite this secrecy.  But there remain many who are dealing with contaminated wells, the aftermath of explosions caused by 'methane migration' and a slew of environmental and health issues, let alone being tied to property, the value of which has skyrocketed, plummeted, or, in any case, changed dramatically due to natural gas content, whatever one's perspective.

Whether or not one is living directly above a gas deposit of any type, there are few of us, whether we're aware of it or not, who don't have a stake in the issues surrounding fracking or any of the other  'unconventional' (or, for that matter, conventional) drilling techniques employed to get atnatural gas, now that the 'low-hanging-fruit' is clearly being exhausted. Wilber's patience in condensing a wealth of information into a highly readable and coherent expose on this very current and important topic is enhanced by his storyteller's eye for the all-too-human quandaries involved and makes for a highly engaging, at times truly riveting, read... one which will hopefully find its way into the hands of decision-makers and citizens across the country, as public discourse strives to make sense of what goes on 'under the surface' of our hyper-mobile, fuel-dependant lifestyles."