When the oil and gas industry came to the small town of Dryden, NY (population: 14,500) with plans to start fracking, things didn’t turn out quite how they expected. Scroll down to find out how a group of neighbors turned the tables on a powerful industry—and changed the fracking game forever. (15 photos + comments)

Downtown Dryden, NY. Chris Jordan-Bloch / Earthjustice

1The small town of Dryden is located in upstate New York, nestled among farms and rolling hills. Parades down Main Street, picnics at nearby Dryden Lake, and the famed annual Dryden Dairy Day—celebrating community and local farmers—are all hallmarks of the close-knit town.





Marie McRae on her farm in Dryden, NY. Chris Jordan-Bloch / Earthjustice

2Marie McRae has farmed in Dryden for nearly 30 years. She loves her peaceful plot of land. “I tell people that at night, it’s so quiet you can almost hear the Milky Way.”

In 2007, she was approached by a representative of the oil and gas industry, known as a landman, who wanted to lease her land to drill for gas. She told him no. Over the next year, the landman hounded McRae, approaching her six more times. He told her even if she didn't lease her land, they would still drill. Signing the lease was the only way she could protect her farm, he said. So Marie signed the lease.

She had no idea what would come next. Her lessons and her journey were just beginning.





Deborah and Joanne Cipolla-Dennis at their home in Dryden, NY. Chris Jordan-Bloch / Earthjustice

3Deborah and Joanne Cipolla-Dennis are a happily married couple living in Dryden. They had recently moved to town after searching far and wide for a tolerant, rural community where they could build their dream home.

Soon after they had begun construction on their energy efficient home made with all green materials, they too were approached by the oil and gas industry. The couple refused to sign the lease. Not long after they turned down the industry, they met Marie. Marie shared her story and suggested that they join with her and other neighbors to learn more about the oil and gas industry’s plans for their town.





Air pollution, traffic problems, water contamination and earthquakes have occurred in communities near fracking sites. Chris Jordan-Bloch / Earthjustice

4Marie, Joanne and Deborah learned that Dryden was just one of many places being targeted as part of a nationwide oil and gas rush sped along by what was then a little-known technique called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. The process involves mixing water and chemicals together and shooting them deep underground to release gas and oil from the bedrock. The process has been linked to air and water contamination, industrial explosions, even earthquakes.

"The more I learned, the more I couldn't believe what I had done by signing the lease. I had to find a way to stop them from coming and ruining our town," McRae said.





Joanne Cipolla-Dennis at a Dryden Resource Awareness Coalition (DRAC) meeting. Chris Jordan-Bloch / Earthjustice

5"The industry kept saying: 'We have the power; you have none. We are coming. Get out of the way or leave,'" said Joanne Cipolla-Dennis. "At the meetings we were trying to figure out if there was anything we could do. We were like deer in headlights." But word was spreading about a way that towns could fight back. Two lawyers from a nearby town had done some research into New York state law—and what they found was promising.

"There was a way to help our town, but we had to act quickly."



