Call number
363.7309748 GRI
Collection
Publication
Picador (2019), Edition: Reprint, 336 pages
Description
"Tells the story of the energy boom's impact on a small town at the edge of Appalachia--and one woman's transformation from a struggling single parent to an unlikely activist. Stacey Haney is a local nurse working hard to raise two kids and keep up her small farm when the fracking industry comes to her hometown of Amity, Pennsylvania. Intrigued by reports of lucrative natural gas leases in her neighbors' mailboxes, she strikes a deal with a Texas-based energy company. Soon trucks begin rumbling past her farm, a fenced-off drill site rises on an adjacent hilltop, and domestic animals and pets start to die. When mysterious sicknesses begin to afflict her children, she appeals to the company for help. Its representatives insist that nothing is wrong. Alarmed by her children's illnesses, Haney joins with neighbors and a committed husband-and-wife legal team to investigate what's really in the water and air. Against local opposition, Haney and her allies doggedly pursue their case in court and begin to expose the damage that's being done to the land her family has lived on for centuries. Soon a community that has long been suspicious of outsiders faces wrenching new questions about who is responsible for redressing their ills. The faceless corporations that are poisoning the land? The environmentalists who fail to see their economic distress? A federal government that is mandated to protect but fails on the job? Drawing on seven years of immersive reporting, Griswold reveals what happens when an imperiled town faces a crisis of values--and a family wagers everything on an improbable quest for justice."--Dust jacket.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member Christina_E_Mitchell
Why do people live and vote outside their own best interests? Because, reality is always complex...even the reality of those who see things as black and white.
LibraryThing member Beamis12
One of the Pulitzer winners for this year, and though I often don't agree with their choices, this was a worthy one. Fracking, Pennsylvania and a town Amity, with few employment opportunities. Just the kind of place these natural gas companies like to plunder. They pretty much descend on those that
This centers on a few families in Amity, a woman, divorced mother of two, who owns her own property, but could use additional money for improvements. What she didn't bargain for is what happens to the health of her family, the animals in her care, and the struggle she will have trying to get justice. Admit to disillusionment when I learned Obama allowed fracking to go on, but not surprised to learn Trump removed many of the EPA safeguards. An odd to the legal team of husband and wife and the way they fought a system that at every turn was firmly against them. A fine piece of investigative reporting. The audio book narrated by Tavia Gilbert who did a fantastic job.
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are desperate money, sell them a bill of goods, insist they are environmentally friendly, and promise big financial returns.This centers on a few families in Amity, a woman, divorced mother of two, who owns her own property, but could use additional money for improvements. What she didn't bargain for is what happens to the health of her family, the animals in her care, and the struggle she will have trying to get justice. Admit to disillusionment when I learned Obama allowed fracking to go on, but not surprised to learn Trump removed many of the EPA safeguards. An odd to the legal team of husband and wife and the way they fought a system that at every turn was firmly against them. A fine piece of investigative reporting. The audio book narrated by Tavia Gilbert who did a fantastic job.
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LibraryThing member dele2451
A detailed long-term look at the damage done to three Appalachian families when their air and water are seriously contaminated by hydraulic fracturing natural gas mining on their mountain. I found the segments on stakeholder intelligence, energy marketing strategies in rural communities, and
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laboratory test report manipulation especially enlightening. Show Less
LibraryThing member strandbooks
Thankfully I finished Amity and Prosperity so I don’t have to stay up past 11 pm reading again. (Yawn!! So tired...I am not a night owl). It deservedly won the Pulitzer, but it’s pretty disheartening. It focuses on a handful of families in PA who became very ill due to fracking contaminating
I enjoyed the writing of this one more than Beyond the Beautiful Forevers and Evicted, both books that have won the Pulitzer in the past couple years. I like that Griswold talks some about her relationship with the story and how she sees the families change over the years.
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their water. The level of fraud and corruption between the oil companies, local and national environmental agencies and the local landowners is difficult to read. But there are some positive people like the lawyers who take on the case pro-bono even though they don’t know environmental law, but want to protect their local communities access to clean water, zoning protections etc. I enjoyed the writing of this one more than Beyond the Beautiful Forevers and Evicted, both books that have won the Pulitzer in the past couple years. I like that Griswold talks some about her relationship with the story and how she sees the families change over the years.
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LibraryThing member muddyboy
This is a well researched study about several families (one in particular) in Western Pennsylvania in their fight against the power companies located there. Fracking is the main issue and all the side effects it causes to people and livestock. Dogs die, children get sick and the citizens fight an
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uphill battle against corporate America and in some cases the government agencies that are supposed to protect them..It is a real heads up warning about the power of the oil and gas industries. Great book. Show Less
LibraryThing member Sheila1957
Fracking comes to Pennsylvania where small towns of Amity and Prosperity are looked at as the gas boom enriches some but sickens others. Stacey Haney's family is followed as they fight Range Resources as they fall ill from living below one of Range's drill sites.
What a book! Eliza Griswold tells
I felt so bad for Stacey and her family and her neighbors, the Voyles, as they fight for their rights for clean water and air. Looking back on everything it started with the death of their animals and Stacey's son, Harley, illnesses. Stacey is constantly taking Harley to the hospitals in Washington, PA, and Pittsburgh. Stacey starts keeping records of taking Harley and smells in the air and things that aren't right with their water and problems in the house. Beth Voyles does the same. They call the EPA and DEP but, while they pay lip service, nothing is done. Oh, Range, eventually does get fined, the fines are so small compared to how much they are making from fracking.
I was appalled by how Range Resources got away with destroying the environment and can walk away. I also was angry by how the taxpayers of Pennsylvania will end up footing the cost of Range doing business--repaving roads, cleaning up and reclaiming drilling sites (even though Range is supposed to put everything back as it was when they finish), medical costs for those sickened (if they don't have insurance.)
Eventually Stacey and Beth hire attorneys, the Smiths, to have Range admit negligence and give them clean water and stop fracking above their homes. Stacey has to move from her home it is so bad. Beth stays but develops severe health problems. Their children are impacted negatively with physical and emotional illnesses. For years the lawsuits continue. I was disgusted by how DEP acted towards the Haneys and Voyles, how they sided with Range Resources. They were to protect the public, not big business.
I was shocked how Range tried to find out who was paying the Smiths. I could not believe the accusations Range made against charitable organizations and environmentalist organizations in the region. The Smiths basically were doing this pro bono with payment if a settlement was achieved. I liked how they were crusaders, going after the Commonwealth when Act 13 was passed to ensure that the public was put first and not gas and oil companies.
I was saddened about how Amity was split. It seemed that those who were paid large sums by Range did not believe Stacey, who had grown up with them. It seemed that once the money started rolling in, many forgot how a small town worked--they all helped one another and supported one another. That seemed to end the longer the lawsuits dragged on.
It was a shame that the lawsuits never went to trial. Settlement was made with gag orders in place about it. I think a jury would have found for Stacey and Beth but I can understand the stress of living with something this big hanging over their heads, how it wore them down and took over their lives.
I hope that Stacey and her family and Beth and her family are followed over the years. I want to know what happens to them--how their health and lives are affected from the chemicals they breathed and drank.
I agree with Harley. The money (all of it) was blood money. His life was ruined and he could not get back what he lost--his health, his ambitions, his dreams. They were all gone. He moved on but he has a different outlook. He has matured fast and knows the agencies put in place to aid the public don't. His innocence was lost. His is right. Greed won.
What a book! Eliza Griswold tells
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the story in a straightforward manner. She has documentation listed so you can check it out for more details. She did a through job in telling the story of how a town takes sides.I felt so bad for Stacey and her family and her neighbors, the Voyles, as they fight for their rights for clean water and air. Looking back on everything it started with the death of their animals and Stacey's son, Harley, illnesses. Stacey is constantly taking Harley to the hospitals in Washington, PA, and Pittsburgh. Stacey starts keeping records of taking Harley and smells in the air and things that aren't right with their water and problems in the house. Beth Voyles does the same. They call the EPA and DEP but, while they pay lip service, nothing is done. Oh, Range, eventually does get fined, the fines are so small compared to how much they are making from fracking.
I was appalled by how Range Resources got away with destroying the environment and can walk away. I also was angry by how the taxpayers of Pennsylvania will end up footing the cost of Range doing business--repaving roads, cleaning up and reclaiming drilling sites (even though Range is supposed to put everything back as it was when they finish), medical costs for those sickened (if they don't have insurance.)
Eventually Stacey and Beth hire attorneys, the Smiths, to have Range admit negligence and give them clean water and stop fracking above their homes. Stacey has to move from her home it is so bad. Beth stays but develops severe health problems. Their children are impacted negatively with physical and emotional illnesses. For years the lawsuits continue. I was disgusted by how DEP acted towards the Haneys and Voyles, how they sided with Range Resources. They were to protect the public, not big business.
I was shocked how Range tried to find out who was paying the Smiths. I could not believe the accusations Range made against charitable organizations and environmentalist organizations in the region. The Smiths basically were doing this pro bono with payment if a settlement was achieved. I liked how they were crusaders, going after the Commonwealth when Act 13 was passed to ensure that the public was put first and not gas and oil companies.
I was saddened about how Amity was split. It seemed that those who were paid large sums by Range did not believe Stacey, who had grown up with them. It seemed that once the money started rolling in, many forgot how a small town worked--they all helped one another and supported one another. That seemed to end the longer the lawsuits dragged on.
It was a shame that the lawsuits never went to trial. Settlement was made with gag orders in place about it. I think a jury would have found for Stacey and Beth but I can understand the stress of living with something this big hanging over their heads, how it wore them down and took over their lives.
I hope that Stacey and her family and Beth and her family are followed over the years. I want to know what happens to them--how their health and lives are affected from the chemicals they breathed and drank.
I agree with Harley. The money (all of it) was blood money. His life was ruined and he could not get back what he lost--his health, his ambitions, his dreams. They were all gone. He moved on but he has a different outlook. He has matured fast and knows the agencies put in place to aid the public don't. His innocence was lost. His is right. Greed won.
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LibraryThing member mindatlarge
Informative, maddening and heartbreaking.
LibraryThing member MugsyNoir
Amity and Prosperity by Eliza Griswold is an excellent, balanced exposition of the history of the fossil fuel industries in southwestern Pennsylvania and the recent effects that one of those industries , the natural gas fracking industry, had on a couple of families in the area.
Stacey Haney and her
It doesn’t take too long before they have to consider whether they’d made a deal with the devil. A nasty odor permeates the air, animals and the children become sick, and their water becomes foul and unpotable. When they complain to the gas company, Range Resources, the company denies any responsibility, even claiming there isn’t even a problem.
Griswold covers the struggles of the Haney’s and Voyles, a few other neighbors, and a heroic husband and wife legal team as they battle for their health, their homes, their land, and their reputations in the community. Their foes are a company with deep pockets and government bureaucracies, local, state, and federal, seemingly aligned against them. Griswold unfolds the narrative in a straight-forward way, providing an in-depth examination of the legal and emotional aspects that guide industry practices in the United States, often at the expense of the people they’re intended to help.
Griswold does a wonderful job showing the spirit and industriousness of the people of southwestern Pennsylvania. I grew up in SW PA. The people there are a proud people who enjoy working. They’re a communal people who support each other. My dad and most of my friends’ dads worked in either the coal and the steel industries as they faded and left thousands of families wondering where their next job or meal was coming from. After decades of work, some employees found they didn’t even retain the pensions they were relying on. Griswold shows that pain.
Highly recommended.
Stacey Haney and her
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two children, Harley and Paige, live on a small farm in Amity, PA, next door to Beth and John Voyle, and their daughter, Ashley. Both families enjoy hard work, the outdoors, and working with animals. Stacey also works as a nurse at the regional hospital. When the natural gas boom arrives in their area, Stacey and the Voyles decide to get involved to make some money off of their land, and also do the right “Patriotic thing” for the country.It doesn’t take too long before they have to consider whether they’d made a deal with the devil. A nasty odor permeates the air, animals and the children become sick, and their water becomes foul and unpotable. When they complain to the gas company, Range Resources, the company denies any responsibility, even claiming there isn’t even a problem.
Griswold covers the struggles of the Haney’s and Voyles, a few other neighbors, and a heroic husband and wife legal team as they battle for their health, their homes, their land, and their reputations in the community. Their foes are a company with deep pockets and government bureaucracies, local, state, and federal, seemingly aligned against them. Griswold unfolds the narrative in a straight-forward way, providing an in-depth examination of the legal and emotional aspects that guide industry practices in the United States, often at the expense of the people they’re intended to help.
Griswold does a wonderful job showing the spirit and industriousness of the people of southwestern Pennsylvania. I grew up in SW PA. The people there are a proud people who enjoy working. They’re a communal people who support each other. My dad and most of my friends’ dads worked in either the coal and the steel industries as they faded and left thousands of families wondering where their next job or meal was coming from. After decades of work, some employees found they didn’t even retain the pensions they were relying on. Griswold shows that pain.
Highly recommended.
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Awards
Pulitzer Prize (Winner — General Non-Fiction — 2019)
LA Times Book Prize (Finalist — Science & Technology — 2018)
Ridenhour Book Prize (2019)
Goddard Riverside Stephan Russo Book Prize for Social Justice (Shortlist — 2018)
Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism (Finalist — 2019)
Pages
336
ISBN
1250215072 / 9781250215079