Reviewing an anti-fracking movie that features Matt Damon, Revkin suggests that maybe "budget constraints" is the reason that actual fracking sites aren't shown

The Unfulfilled Promise of 'Promised Land' - NYTimes.com

An impassioned environmentalist (Krasinki’s character) is as unappealing as Damon and his equally duplicitous partner, played by Frances McDormand. While the industry team offers town officials manila envelopes stuffed with cash, the activist conducts an absurd classroom demonstration — drizzling a toy farm with toxic chemicals and then igniting it — to make his point.

Whether because of budget constraints or by design, the movie never shows drilling itself, leaving the specter of the industrial invasion of rural America to the imagination of the townsfolk and audience. One way or the other, this works to its dramatic advantage.

Flashback: Photos: "Visually unobtrusive" fracking site "with many people in the area unaware of its existence"