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DEB MEADER, 48, is a nurse, a mother of three girls, and a new grandmother. She lives in the town of Parachute, western Colorado, approximately two hundred yards from five gas wells.

“You can’t live next to a gas well and not get sick. We look around on the mesa and everyone’s got something. The guy below us had a real bad heart attack. The guy that owns the orchard has prostate cancer. I have headaches. Tom, my husband, has high blood pressure and gets headaches. Regina, my daughter, she had burning like you have a bladder infection..."  Read more of Deb's story

TINA ANTES, 43, lives in Silt, western Colorado, where she’s resided most of her life and where she and her husband breed goats. There are twelve gas wells within a quarter mile of their land.

“There’s something in the air and it makes me sick. I can smell it instantly, and I know within four hours I will be fatigued and then you want to just sleep. I can’t work and I get mad, because I have all these things to do. I never knew what a headache was before, but now nosebleeds are common, headaches definitely. But you can’t really prove it’s because of the gas unless you have thousands of dollars.  Two years ago, that smell, whatever it is, it was bad. It was so bad I couldn’t even work outside..."  Read more of Tina's story

LAURA AMOS, her husband Larry and daughter Lauren live south of Silt.  "We were among the first in our area to have natural gas drilling on our property.

In May 2001 while fracturing four wells on our neighbors' property (less than 1000 feet from our house) the gas well operator "blew up" our water well.  Fracturing opened a hydrogeological connection between our water well and the gas well, sending the cap of our water well flying and blowing our water into the air like a  geyser at Yellowstone. Immediately our water turned gray, had a horrible smell, and bubbled like 7-Up..." Read more of Laura's story

RICK ROLES, 49, lives in Silt, western Colorado. When he feels well he works construction and takes care of his ranch. There are nineteen wells within a quarter mile of his home.

“In these pits they’re evaporating the water [produced while drilling] but the chemicals that are in the water, the benzene and the hydrocarbons, they don’t evaporate, they settle to the ground or travel with the wind and that’s got to be hurting somebody... I started getting sick two summers ago. I’d never gotten sick like this before. If I’m outside for any length of time and I exert myself very far, I start to feel sick. My hands swell up as big as softballs. My symptoms are from my hair to my toenails. In October, my arms were swelled up so bad I couldn’t reach my face even to eat. I could hardly walk. It was hard to drive because I didn’t have any rotation in my shoulders or wrists. When it gets to the point where I can’t reach my face, I have to stop working..."  Read more of Rick's story