Under the Surface by Tom Wilber

A new blog and new book by Tom Wilber, journalist and author covering Marcellus and Utica shale gas development – -

Tom Wilber, the author of the new book entitled Under The Surface, has been in the newspaper business for more than 20 years and has written for the Central New York Business Journal and the Watertown Daily Times. For 17 years, he worked for the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin, covering business, health, and environment beats. He taught various journalism courses as an adjunct at Broome Community College and Binghamton University.

He has a BA, English, University of Rochester (1983) and a MA, print journalism, Syracuse University Newhouse School (1989). Awards for shale gas coverage: First Place, Best of Gannett, Beat Reporting, 2010; First Place, New York State Associated Press Writing Contest, Beat Reporting, 2009-2010; First Place, New York State Newspaper Publishers Association Contest, Community Service, 2008.

EARLY REVIEWS FOR “UNDER THE SURFACE” – - -

UNDER THE SURFACE makes sure we hear from those who support development of the Marcellus Shale formation, as well as the skeptics. But it is hard not to be moved by the testimony it gathers from ordinary citizens already hurt by the methane explosions, foul groundwater, and other damage … And as a former regulator, it is hard for me to read how little our government agencies have done—or been able to do—to make sure that our health and natural resources aren’t short-changed as this industry continues to grow. -Eric Schaffer, former director of EPA’s Office of Civil Enforcement. 

With a journalist’s command of the facts and a novelist’s eye for his subjects, Tom Wilber takes us to the living rooms, farms, meeting halls, and mountain streams where the fracking drama plays out daily. — John Cronin, senior fellow at Pace and Clarkson Universities and coauthor of The Riverkeepers

Wilber, a former environmental reporter who has been covering the fracking debate from the beginning, combines a storyteller’s ear with a journalist’s eye, offering a sensitive and especially timely take on the issue… This book will be essential background reading for the still-unfolding fracking drama. –Publisher’s Weekly

Blog of April 20th on Dunkard Creek:

See the blog by Wilber entitled:  “Setting record straight on factors in Dunkard Creek fish kill: Mine discharge, H2O withdrawals, dumping, foreign algae.”  He says that: The organism that infected the creek —Prymnesium Parvum (Golden Algae)—was not a local phenomenon, or a product of the mine discharge, but an import that hitched a ride from a place where it thrived in coastal estuaries. It should be noted here that drill rigs, related equipment and crews are by their natural itinerant, and offer a plausible means for the golden algae to spread. [Seems to me this is more than plausible, it is likely. D.G.N.]

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