???與此同時，關于巴奈特頁巖田的宣傳無處不在。切薩皮克公司為了宣傳鉆探頁巖氣的經濟利益，特地重金聘請著名演員湯米?李?瓊斯拍攝了一支廣告。另外，它還攝制了一部名叫《頁巖田的公民》（Citizens of the Shale）的電視宣傳片，買斷黃金時間在當地電視臺播放。它還打算專門開設一家名叫shale.tv的電視臺，由當地一名退休主播擔任主持人。另外切薩皮克公司還與其他10家能源公司一道，成立了巴奈特頁巖能源教育委員會，聘請一名經驗豐富的行業經濟學家負責本地的“推廣”計劃。

????在Grapevine郊區一座繁忙的購物中心附近有一個鉆井點，切薩皮克公司就在這里成立了一座“切薩皮克學習中心”，游客可以在這里來一次“自游行”，就近參觀這里的天然氣鉆探操作。（有一塊牌子上寫著：“當地家庭將通過本鉆探點的多口油井受益。”）這種“鉆井一日游”很快被當地市長吹噓為“獨一無二的吸引力”。

????2008年，就在天然氣價勉強突破10美元時，切薩皮克公司斥資1.04億美元，在沃斯堡市買下了一座20層的大樓，作為區域總部。

????盡管其他城市可能考慮到了城市鉆井可能導致的視覺污染、空氣污染和噪聲污染（因為鉆井必然需要設備、管道、大噪音的機械和重型卡車），但是在熱情接納了鉆井業的德克薩斯州，金錢的誘惑還是戰勝了少數警惕的聲音。哪怕把鉆井平臺搭在別的地方，開采天然氣還是需要井口設備、儲存罐、壓縮機，一個平臺經常要圍上三到五畝地的圍墻或柵欄，重型卡車來來回回傾瀉廢料……這些問題在人口聚居區域很難被忽視。因此匹茲堡市后來干脆禁止在城市界內進行鉆井。

????但是沃斯堡市在一位石油市長的領導下，由于堅信土地租約會給當地帶來經濟效益，因此只對頁巖氣開采出臺了一些不痛不癢的限制。很快沃斯堡市開始遍布油井——在公園和鄉村俱樂部旁邊，在人口稠密的居民區附近，在沃斯堡市中心（因為這里被認為是巴奈特油田的一個“最佳出氣點”），甚至連當地的一座公墓陵園里，都能看到高大的鉆井機在轟鳴作業。

????當時，沃斯堡市掀起了“全城租地”的風潮，似乎但凡名下有立錐之地的人，都在簽訂鉆探租約，甚至連城市本身也不例外。前文提到的《沃斯堡明星電訊報》就把自家印刷廠的鉆探權賣了出去。達拉斯-沃斯堡機場也從切薩皮克公司獲得了1.86億美元的簽約獎金，機場官員和切薩皮克公司CEO麥克蘭登還在簽約儀式上開了香檳。

????但是就在一夜之間，“頁巖熱”熄滅了。即便在天然氣產量激增、價格猛跌的情況下，各大能源公司依舊爭相簽訂新的租約，使有些買斷鉆探權的租約價格達到每畝3萬美元之高。當地一個由沃斯堡市西南28家社區協會組成的聯合會代表大約5萬戶家庭與總部位于科羅拉多州的Vantage能源公司進行了艱苦的談判，最終達成了一項集體協定，Vantage公司同意以27,500美元每英畝的價格租賃土地鉆探權，同時表示愿意遵守嚴格的開采限制，并且向該地區的民生項目捐贈50萬美元。當地各個社區的居民可以輪流在當地的一座浸信會教堂里與能源公司簽訂協議，整個簽約過程可能會持續好幾個月的時間。

????但是到了2008年10月14日，在只簽訂了原定計劃的五分之一的租約的情況下，Vantage公司的CEO將三位社區領袖召集在市中心的一間辦公室里，告訴他們當天的簽約會（當時已經在進行中）將是最后一場簽約會了。50萬美元的慈善捐助也宣告免談。社區首席談判代表托利?托馬斯回憶道，在Vantage公司第二天正式宣布行動計劃之前，一切都處于保密狀態。

????但是消息很快泄露了出去，1000多名憤怒的群眾得知協議將被取消的消息后，一齊涌至教堂，希望簽訂租約，繼續履行協議。但是他們很多人的租約甚至都沒有準備好。托馬斯說：“我們當時想幫忙打印文件，盡可能讓更多的人簽約。”隨著剩下的時間越來越少，人們變得越來越憤怒，一邊咒罵一邊在隊列中推推搡搡，警察也趕到現場維持秩序。托馬斯說：“當時空氣中彌漫著恐慌的氣味。”這次活動持續到午夜才結束。（在一封公開信中，Vantage公司CEO羅杰?畢曼斯表示對給當地居民造成的“任何不便”表示道歉，并稱公司會遵守所有已經執行的協議，但是由于“市場波動”和天然氣價格“顯著下跌”的原因，公司將不再根據已談妥的條款簽訂更多租約。他還補充說，未來簽訂的任何租約都需要“更精確地反映當前和預期的石油與天然氣的基礎經濟因素。”

????Meanwhile Barnett Shale propaganda was everywhere. Chesapeake promoted the economic benefits of drilling with an ad campaign featuring actor Tommy Lee Jones. It produced a 30-minute infomercial called “Citizens of the Shale” and bought time to run it on local stations. It planned a regular TV broadcast—called “shale.tv”—to be hosted by a retired local anchorman. It joined with ten other energy companies to form the Barnett Shale Energy Education Council, and hired a veteran industry economist to conduct local “outreach” programs.

????On a drilling site next to a busy shopping mall in suburban Grapevine, the company erected the “ChesapeakeLearningCenter,” where visitors could go on self-guided tours to watch natural gas operations up close. (“Local families will benefit from multiple wells drilled on this site,” explained one sign.) What was soon dubbed “fracking tourism” led the local mayor to gush that it was a “one-of-a-kind attraction.”

????In 2008, with gas prices briefly over $10, Chesapeake spent $104 million to buy a flashy 20-story office building in Fort Worth for its regional headquarters.

????In drilling-friendly Texas, all this—and the lure of money for nothing—overwhelmed the few cautionary voices. Other cities would remain wary about the sights, smells, and sounds of urban drilling, which requires rigs, pipelines, noisy machinery, and heavy trucks. Even after the rigs go elsewhere, producing the gas requires wellhead equipment, storage tanks, and (often) a compressor, on a fenced or walled industrial site of three to five acres; heavy trucks come and go to haul off drilling wastes. That’s hard to ignore in a residential neighborhood. Pittsburgh would later ban drilling inside its city limits altogether.

????But Fort Worth, led by an oilman-mayor—and a citizenry thrilled with the prospect of a leasing windfall—imposed only modest restrictions. Soon there were rigs everywhere: near parks and country clubs; in leafy residential neighborhoods; in downtown Fort Worth (considered a “sweet spot” in the Barnett field); even on the grounds of a local cemetery.

????Everyone with a piece of land, it seemed, was signing leasing deals, including the city of Fort Worth itself. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram sold rights to drill under its printing plant. Dallas-Fort Worth Airport received a $186 million signing bonus from Chesapeake; airport officials and McClendon toasted the deal with champagne.

????Then, suddenly, the boom was over. Even as natural gas production soared and gas prices plunged, energy companies had kept bidding to sign new leases, driving some signing-bonus offers for neighborhood drilling rights over $30,000. One umbrella group of 28 southwest Fort Worth neighborhood associations, representing about 50,000 properties, had painstakingly negotiated a group deal with Colorado-based Vantage Energy, which agreed to pay a bonus of $27,500 an acre, abide by tough drilling restrictions, and donate $500,000 for area projects. Residents of the different neighborhoods would each have a turn to sign a lease during separate meetings that were expected to continue for months at a local Baptist church.

????Instead, on Oct. 14, 2008, with only a fifth of the leases signed, Vantage’s CEO summoned three top neighborhood leaders to a downtown office to tell them that day’s signing meeting—already underway—would be the last. The $500,000 charitable donation was also off the table. All this was to be kept secret until Vantage officially announced its action the next day, recalls Tolli Thomas, the neighborhoods’ lead negotiator.

????Instead, word quickly leaked out, and more than 1,000 frantic people rushed to the church, hoping to sign leases and collect on the offer, knowing the deal was about to be called off. But many of their leases hadn’t even been prepared. “We were trying to help pull files and get as many people signed up as possible,” says Thomas. As time ran short and the crowd grew angry, cursing and pushing and shoving in line, police were summoned. “There was panic in the air,” she says. The event was shut down around midnight. (In an “open letter” to area residents apologizing for “any inconvenience,” Vantage CEO Roger Biemans said his company would honor all executed agreements, but would sign no more leases under the negotiated terms due to “market turmoil” and “the drastic drop in natural gas prices.” Any future leases, he added, would need to “more accurately reflect current and expected oil and gas fundamental economics.”)