What is our fracking identity? Northern Appalachia in a New Era of Resource Extraction

With the expansion of natural gas extraction through fracking, Northern Appalachian communities find themselves facing, once again, the turmoil of environmental devastation and the uncertainty of a new cycle of boom and bust. Given the geography of fracking, Northern Appalachia exists in a complexity of contexts. Here in Pennsylvania, we find ourselves looking north to see resistance in New York and New England and in the Appalachian regions of Canada. Within the state, there is diversity in how local communities have reacted to the experience of fracking, with opposition to the industry protecting the Delaware River watershed, but enthusiastic embrace among some communities in the traditional coal mining regions of Pennsylvania. This roundtable invites participants to discuss the experience of fracking in Northern Appalachia and to ask how regional identity and definition is both challenged and confirmed by recent experiences. To enrich the conversation, we propose that traditional political and economic delineations of Appalachia be ignored and recognition of the geologic features that define the region in a North American context, not a US context, be considered