Westerners tell their stories about gas booms' effects

Filmmaker Zachary Fink said the thing that drew him to make a film about the Rocky Mountains natural gas boom was the “unholy alliance,” as one conservative New Mexican rancher put it, between traditionally conservative ranchers and typically more liberal environmentalists. As a cultural anthropologist, Fink said it was interesting to him to learn how the two oft-opposing sides worked together on energy issues. Through interviews with three different westerners affected by the boom, “Last Hat in Town” chronicles the transformation of wide-open Colorado ranch lands to areas covered with natural gas drilling activity. Fink's intention in directing the film is to give people on both sides of the issue “a voice, and a human face,” Fink said...GJFreePress