A Protest in U.S. Oil Country Spells Trouble for Fracking Abroad

Gardendale, Texas, sits on the Permian Basin, the largest oil province in the United States. That makes it an unlikely site of anti-fracking protests and an even more unlikely bellwether for shale gas drilling activity in Europe and Asia. And yet it is.

About 15 residents in the town, population 1,574, are waging an anti-drilling crusade against Berry Petroleum. They have tried to turn Gardendale into an official municipality, which would give them more control over gas exploration and production near their homes. They launched a website to chronicle Berry's alleged misdeeds, and a YouTube channel with short "Berry Tales" videos. They have, if nothing else, painted a drilling trailer which they playfully call the “Gardenhell scar" and dumped it near a group of oil storage tanks (see above).