Prologue

The Natural Gas "Gold Rush as observed in June 2011.

Rigs and well pads were everywhere. Large trucks carried water, sand, and chemicals, the necessary ingredients for well stimulation. This process poisons the land and the aquifers beneath the sites of well stimulation.

Landscape Disturbed

Tanks & Hoses

2011

2011

Red Water Truck

2011

Deafening Sounds

2011

24/7 Well Operation

2011

Three Gas Wells

2011

My return to Dimock, I saw that the well pads were hidden from the roads and the truck traffic was minimal. Coterra (Cabot) Energy had temporarily halted the stimulation of the wells in Susquehanna County as the price to sell Natural Gas per unit is in the fall, 2024, around $2.00. However, the cost to produce a natural Gas Unit is around $3.00.

Under President Donald Trump’s expected policies, the fracking is expected to be promoted. The needs for energy will greatly increase because of AI, Crypto Mining and other technical industries. This will result in the need for more Natural Gas, Petro Chemicals and Plastic Power Plants. The value of the Natural Gas in Dimock is between $3 Billion to $4 Billion, a so-called, sweet spot for mining.

What remains from well stimulation are millions of gallons of flow-back water. It is difficult if not impossible to get rid of this flow-back. If or when the tanks degrade the entire area could be poisoned. (See: Trump Coming Soon)

Act One

Return to Dimock

Trump Coming Soon

2024

Trump Coming Soon

2025

Rig in Dimock

2024

Opposite the church, a resident of seemingly limited resources has placed a sign on his barn. Behind it are large holding tanks of most likely flow back water from the fracking. This is poison as it contains fracking chemicals, chemicals from the deep penetration of the earth and radioactive material. If there is a leak, his property would also become poisoned.

A gas rig shows that the well is active in the mining of Natural Gas. The rig travels around the area and is used in at various sites. Here the area around it is bulldozed to allow the necessary trucking of chemicals, water and sand.

2024

Gas Well Pad Almost Hidden

2025

Farm & Pipeline Inspection Rig (PIG)

2024

This Farm & Pipeline Inspection infrastructure, (PIG) is a part of the fracking process. It has been built into the ground of this nonproductive well-kept farm. It cleans the natural gas of impurities and radioactivity from the fracking process which includes drilling deep, extensive vertical and horizontal lines. Then the (PIG) Natural Gas travels to the compressor station and eventually into pipelines to markets.

A gas rig shows that this well is active mining Natural Gas. The rig travels around the area and is used at various sites. Here the ground around has been bulldozed to allow the necessary trucking of chemicals, water and sand used for fracking.

Act Two

Montrose Town Hall

2024

Montrose Hometown Furniture & Bake Shop

2024

2024

Center of Town Montrose Lucky Dog Grooming

The economic center of the region is subject to a boom-and-bust cycle. Currently well stimulation has almost completely stopped as there is too much gas for the markets. However, we should expect fracking to return to this region. I also plan to take more photographs of the town center.

The Town of Montrose

From the Heart Shop

2024

Act Three

The People

These are portraits of the residents in Dimock and Montrose, as well as others who have been affected by this issue. I approach all sitters with empathy and respect. This is their space, and they want to express what they want to tell us. This is the time for them to speak though their photo image, the message they want to give us.

Mattie and April own the Busy Bee Cafe. The two ladies truly love each other and are very cheerful. They were happy that I wanted to photograph them, and they are good cooks. I look forward to their Chicken Pot Pie which they do only one day a month. Business is light as I was the only one there for breakfast until one other customer came in later. But It was Columbus Day. Small local businesses struggle to survive.

Craig

Ray

Vera

She enjoys cheerleading.

Ray's house is almost across the road from a Natural Gas Well Pad. When I last visited him, the well pad was active. He once drove a truck for the industry. Because his water has become contaminated by fracking, he has disconnected his water well from his house. He plans to move from the area.

Victoria

His family has had farmland for many generations. He understands well the impact of fracking in the area.

I have known about Victoria for more than 15 years. She and her husband adored their home, which they had bought before the fossil fuel industry arrived in the area. She did sign a lease with the fossil fuel company many years ago, but did not expect the noise and pollutants that fracking brings to the location where she lived. They moved from their house, and it was sold.

2024

I have known Vera for 26 years. She has been a fierce advocate against the drilling for Natural Gas in the area. She still is an advocate and knows everything that is happening in the area. She will show me some wells which I can safely photograph. She is abreast of the effects of the drilling on the community but wants peace among her neighbors. Her "temple" is open to all.

2024

2024

2024

Buzzy Bee Ladies

2024

A Girl from Dimock.

2024

Barbara, Executive Director of Damascus Citizens for Sustainability. She has been educating the public since 2007 about the Dangers of Fracking.

2024

A. R. Ingraffea, Ph.D., P.E., Dist. Member ASCE, Professor of Engineering Emeritus and Weiss Presidential Teaching Fellow at Cornell University.

“As a concerned scientist/engineer, I engage beyond the academy to further inform and educate the public on critical scientific issues that involve public health and safety, and am also Founding and Past President and now Senior Fellow at: PSE Healthy Energy, Inc.”

2024

The Woodens

Rebecca and Caleb

The Woodens are an interracial couple in an area that is overwhelmingly white. I believe they founded the Center for Anti-Slavery Studies. The building for this center is in the heart of Montrose. Montrose was an extremely active stop on the Underground Railroad, which contributed to the rise of the Ku Klux Klan and the emergence of the new Republican Party. It is a nuanced story, but historically important.

2025

The parents of Gabriel, Jocelyn and Nikolai. Kaleb is a wounded war veteran who is learning Blacksmithing. I have images of him making tin bars.

2025

Gabriel

Jocelyn

The oldest son of the Cardins. He is 16 and wants to learn how to make a Fiddle/Violin.

Jocelyn enjoys the family’s chickens, goats, and ducks. She is showing off a newborn chick.

2025

2025

Dan

Jocelyn and Nicolai

Dan is the publisher of the weekly local paper. He has organized local festivals and knows his neighbors well. He was proud to show me his new office. He happily sat for his portrait with the newspaper he publishes on the desk. He introduced me to others in the community.

The Cardins bought the house for its rural quiet and serenity. Then fracking began in the area, and their water is compromised. This image is of their 2 youngest children with a beloved chicken.

2025

2025

Barbara

Jake

Jake is well versed in the history of the area including the underground railroad and the activities of the Ku Klux Klan. Buried near his house is the author of the Republican 1860 Platform, the year Abraham Lincoln was nominated and elected President.

Barbara Crawford, 91, was raised in Manhattan, but she spent the summers at her family’s Montrose farm. She lived on this farm for many years full time. She told us about the Center for Anti-Slavery Studies and suddenly this photo project became thematically much larger in scope. Susquehanna County is not just environmental story, but historical one and an example of our current national disfunction.

2025

2025

Yuri

Pizza Maker

Xavier is part of the Italian community in Montrose, which arrived more than 100 years ago. He works in his family-owned Italian restaurant. There is a Catholic church serving this community in the heart of Montrose. The Pizza is excellent, and it does have a bustling business.

2025

2025

The Historical Society of Susquehanna County Bonnie and Her Assistants

Frank & Kelly

Susquehanna County is rich in historical events and politicians, and this historical society has documentation and artifacts of this county from the immigrants who settled there and the small businesses that had thrived there. There is much yet to explore since the official founding of the County over 200 years ago.

2025

Frank is a widower and knows many facts and personalities in the area. He also knows about mining for Natural Gas. He is very close to his daughter who does not live that far away.

2025

The health of congregations often mirrors the status of their communities. There are many churches in Susquehanna County.

Act Four

The Churches

This is an image of the Union Church that was built in 1889. There was a possibility that the church would be restored, but is located close to a well pad. With fracking in the region, the restoration plan was canceled. It now stands like a large gravestone. With natural gas mining in the same area, I wonder whether it will be demolished in its current decrepit condition.

2025

2024

Elk Lake Community Church

Bridgewater Church

A.M.E. Zion Church

Dead Church

2024

There was a small Black community in the 19th century and this was their Church. Currently, a Montrose resident is working to preserve it. This small community fled as the presence of the Ku Klux Klan grew.

2024

EPILOGUE

The mining of natural gas is a threat to all. The question is how we will handle this threat to our health, our country, distortions to our economy and survival of our planet. We are at a tipping point. Taking care of the environment is our most important issue.