Gasland Documentary Review

Gasland wins 5 stars! It is an incredible documentary that highlights the horrible issue of hydraulic fracturing (or fracking) and makes you want to do something about it. Fracking uses over 596 chemicals to extract oil from the ground and pollutes millions of gallons of water. 

Although the overall tone of the movie was ominous, with the director Josh Fox's voice narrating slightly monotonously, there were some good laughs as well. And, as I found out in the Q and A session afterward, Fox is really a charismatic public speaker. 

The video above shows the overall tone of the movie.

This next video gives you some more of the facts.

Some of the main facts:

• 1-7 million gallons of water are needed to frack each well each time.
• Each well can be fracked up to 18 times.
• It takes 1,150 truck trips for each frack job.
• Fracking is now being considered in the Delaware River Basin, which provides water to over 20 million people (including NYC)
• There is currently a moritorium on fracking in the DRB, but it expires July 1. 
• Dick Cheney was the CEO of Haliburton (a huge oil company) before he was VP.
• Haliburton Loop Hole: Exempts fracking from the law and was conveniently passed during the Bush administration.
• As Al Appleton said in the Q+A after the screening, normal PR advice for the natural gas companies would be to stay mum and not react at all to Gasland. However, as you can see from this video below, they aren't doing that. Why? They feel threatened because Fox did such a good job showing the human face of this issue.

What we can all do to help fight fracking:

• United for Action Mission Statement: 

  We are a group of volunteers who shape public policy decisions by organizing and mobilizing groups of like minded citizens. Our current focus is to stop the process of hydraulic fracturing of gas wells in the Midatlantic States and Nationally. We are working to raise public awareness of the unacceptable risks posed by this process to our water, air, and mother earth, thus endangering our health and our lives. We seek to empower people to organize, unite and take actions towards a safer, healthier future.

• Sierra Club
• Call the DRBC (Delaware River Basin Commission) and demand that a public hearing be held on fracking in NYC
• DRBC Exec. Director: Carol Collier (609) 883-9500, ext. 200
• New York: Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (518) 474-8390
• New Jersey: Gov. Chris Christie (609) 292-6000
• Delaware: Gov. Jack Markell (302) 744-4101
• Pennsylvania: Gov. Tom Corbett (717) 787-2500

What the FRACK is going on???