How has the oil and gas boom affected other areas?

The oil and gas boom that's looking over Athens County's shoulder has stirred a lot of attention in our area lately, most of it negative. There's good reason for that, based on reported environmental hazards and threats to water supplies elsewhere. I had been longing for some straightforward journalism from the boom areas, the good, the bad. Plus an overview. I stumbled upon these two stories/links. Check 'em out; if nothing else, they reinforce the idea that in an area that's so economically deprived, that has such a wide chasm between poor and doing fine, the jobs vs. environment debate gets even harder to sort out.

The first one is a comprehensive look by the New York Times at how a poor county in eastern Pa. is handling its mixed-blessing fracking boom.

The second one comes courtesy Grand Junction, Colo., a Western Slope city that's seen the best and the worse of past energy booms and busts. Energy is booming again in the area but not without costs.