Battles Escalate Over Community Efforts to Ban Fracking

Protesters converged on Dimock, Pennsylvania, in 2011 over the effects of fracking on residents' water. Now an increasing number of communities are seeking to ban fracking outright, sparking court battles.  Photograph by Nina Berman/NOOR/Redux

Obama's trip to fracking territory underscores the controversy.

nationalgeographic.com - by Joe Eaton - August 22, 2013

As President Obama visits upstate New York and northeastern Pennsylvania this week to discuss his education agenda, a separate issue looms large in the background: fracking, a practice that has transformed Pennsylvania's economy and divided New York, where a moratorium is in place.

Protesters on both sides of the issue are expected to greet the President. And while his trip highlights many unresolved issues related to America's new wealth of natural gas and oil, a growing number of communities are taking matters into their own hands.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)