A fascinating and horrifying story in this morning's UK Guardian newspaper about anti-fracking activist Vera Scroggins.
Scroggins has spent the past five years in opposition to fracking in Susquehana County in northeastern Pennsylvania - the heart of the state's Marcellus Shale drilling industry.
She has visited frack sites – posting up to 500 videos on YouTube. She has called in health and environmental regulators at perceived violations, and she has organised bus tours of frack sites for anyone who is interested – from Yoko Ono and Susan Sarandon to visiting Canadian elected officials.In October however, the major drilling company in the region, Cabot Energy, hauled Ms. Scroggins into court on just 72 hours notice (too little time for her to find a lawyer), produced 9 company employees and members of their private security firm and in short order had a court order from local judge Kenneth Seaman barring her from setting foot on any property owned or leased by Cabot in the county. What has ensued is a living nightmare for Ms. Scroggins. Nearly 40 percent of the county's lands are in Cabot control, but Ms. Scroggins has no map to guide her on where she can and can't go.
(She) is legally barred from the new county hospital. Also off-limits, unless Scroggins wants to risk fines and arrest, are the Chinese restaurant where she takes her grandchildren, the supermarkets and drug stores where she shops, the animal shelter where she adopted her Yorkshire terrier, bowling alley, recycling centre, golf club, and lake shore.