Up to Heaven and Down to Hell: Fracking, Freedom, and Community in an American Town

Shale gas extraction (fracking) is a controversial topic in rural Pennsylvania. Up to Heaven and Down to Hell is a book that explores the personal consequences of fracking, highlighting the tension between property rights and the commonwealth. It reveals how the decision to lease can bring financial rewards but also cause irreparable harm to neighbors, communal resources, and even oneself. The book challenges Americans' ideas about freedom and property rights and emphasizes the importance of considering the environmental consequences of individual choices.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 336 pages
Publication date: 23 August 2022
Publisher: Princeton University Press

Shale gas extraction, commonly known as fracking, is often portrayed as an energy revolution that will transform the American economy and geopolitics. However, in greater Williamsport, Pennsylvania, fracking is more than just a topic of debate; it is a deeply personal experience.

Up to Heaven and Down to Hell is a powerful and often heart-wrenching account of what happens when one of the most significant decisions about the well-being of our communities and our planet—whether or not to extract shale gas and oil from the very land beneath our feet—is largely a private choice made by millions of ordinary people without the public's consent.

In the United States, property rights extend up to heaven and down to hell, meaning landowners have the exclusive right to lease their subsurface mineral estates to petroleum companies. Colin Jerolmack, in this deeply intimate book, spent eight months living with rural communities outside of Williamsport as they grappled with the tension between property rights and the commonwealth.

Through his experiences, Jerolmack reveals how the decision to lease brings financial rewards but can also cause irreparable harm to neighbors, communal resources like air and water, and even to oneself. Up to Heaven and Down to Hell casts a troubling new light on America's ideas about freedom and property rights, highlighting how our personal choices can undermine our neighbors' liberty and how the exercise of individual rights can have unintended environmental consequences for us all.

This book is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand the complex and controversial issues surrounding fracking and the impact it has on communities and the environment. It is a powerful reminder that our choices have consequences, and that we must work together to make decisions that are in the best interests of all.

Weight: 302g
Dimension: 132 x 201 x 27 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780691241425