ShaleCountry.Com was created and produced by the American Clean Skies Foundation (ACSF) and a documentary film team at Getzels Gordon Productions.

HARRIET GORDON GETZELS, Producer and Director

Based in Oxford, England for sixteen years and now in Washington DC, Harriet is part of a documentary team that has produced award-winning films all over the world for American, British and European television. Here are some of Harriet's reflections on ShaleCountry.com:

"Starting in January 2010, our team spent over seven weeks traveling from Pennsylvania to Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas and New York, recording more than forty-seven hours of interviews and taking over 19,000 pictures. The result is eleven short photo essays and four videos driven by people born and bred in Shale Country. Shale Country is becoming a battleground between big corporations and government regulators; struggling farmers who've been on their land for generations and people who've arrived from the city in search of a calmer life; the rural poor whose fortunes have unexpectedly mushroomed and environmental groups who expect the rural poor to make big sacrifices in the name of reducing the country's carbon footprint. Tensions were often just beneath the surface but I had one purpose: to listen to them.

These are stories shared by people who pegged me for having opinions opposed to theirs from the moment I arrived, but welcomed me with no reserve. I can still hear their voices."

PETER GETZELS, Executive Producer

With his wife, Harriet, Peter is Co-owner of Getzels Gordon Productions, an independent film production company. An Emmy-winning documentary director, producer and cinematographer who has worked in thirty countries, Peter is noted for high-concept, cutting-edge films which have seen global distribution.

For Peter, Shale Country provided Getzels Gordon with a new opportunity to produce directly for the web. "Setting out to create personal narratives driven by outstanding photography and the strongest possible voices, our creative team tackled a new set of production challenges with compelling results." For Peter's filmography go to www.closertotruth.com/page/Peter-Getzels/10.

AARON DEEMER, Photographer

Aaron has worked for the last ten years photographing for editorial and advertising clients, as well as filming documentaries, in and around China where he was first introduced to Getzels Gordon Productions. For Aaron, " Photography is not only an art form…. It is a career that cultivates creativity and has enabled me to be involved in projects dealing with health and social issues around the world. " For more of his work, go to aarondeemer.com.

MARC MASTERS, Editor

Marc has been a documentary editor for over a decade, with credits on programs for PBS, Discovery Channel, National Geographic, History Channel, and TLC. He is also a freelance music journalist for the Wire, Pitchfork, Baltimore City Paper and more, and author of the book No Wave from Black Dog Publishing.

CHAYA SHAPIRO, Associate Producer, Editor

For Chaya, "Working on this project was like standing at the edge of one moment and witnessing the next right before it is realized. It sounds dramatic but for me, so are the potential benefits of this new energy resource. I am no quick convert, and I still feel conflicted about natural gas extraction and the energy industry as a whole…. But having been able to briefly step into the communities and the lives that are in the thick of it, I cannot deny the positive impact that even this initial stage of extraction has had. I have not been convinced it is the solution, but it is certainly part of it."

THOMAS KAUFMAN, Cinematographer

An Emmy Award-winning motion picture cameraman and director, Tom is a two-time winner of the Gordon Parks Award for Cinematography, and has contributed work to three Academy Award-nominated films. He has shot hundreds of documentaries, commercials, and fiction films; and have recently published my first novel Drink the Tea, from St Martin's Press.

RYAN BILLER, Online Editor

A West Virginia native, Ryan now lives in Washington D.C. working in video and audio production. His pursuits in music and recording led him to the Savannah College of Art and Design where he graduated in Sound Design. For ShaleCountry.com Ryan worked as the sound-recorder on the video shoots and, for post-production, as online editor. For Ryan, traveling with the Shale Country production team was "tremendously affirming" especially "seeing good, decent people prosper from the natural gas boom." In his spare time, Ryan plays in several bands, writes and records music from all angles, and proudly keeps an historic car alive.

LAURA ANDERSON, Production Manager

Laura kept the whole production on course – as scheduler, problem solver and minutia coordinator. "It may not seem glamorous or creative," says Laura, but " it is an important, behind-the-scenes role.  And just so you know, I consider myself quite the creative quilter and jewelry maker."