A good part of our trip was spent in Carroll County, Ohio, which lies in the heart of the eastern Ohio Marcellus Shale drilling boom. There we met with a number of officials, residents and community activists who have experienced the fracking boom and the related changes in this rural county of about 30,000 from differing perspectives.
One of the officials we met was Amy Rutledge, a Carroll County native and director of the Carroll County Chamber of Commerce and Convention and Visitor's Bureau. While it is her job to promote the county, in her talk with us, she did acknowledge that the boom has had some negative impact. Here she is in two videos, one from energynation.org, a industry group, and a one from the Columbus Dispatch, which offers a more even-handed examination of community impact that also includes a story and slideshow.
