'Gasland' Doc to be Shown Next Week
Washington PA Observer Reporter
21 August 2010
By Bob Niedbala, Staff writer
niedbala@observer-reporter.com
An award-winning and controversial documentary about natural gas
drilling will be shown in Waynesburg Aug. 28.
"Gasland," which won a Special Jury Prize for Documentary at the 2010
Sundance Film Festival, will be screened at 1 p.m. in the auditorium of
Waynesburg Central High School. Admission is free.
The film's director, Josh Fox of Milanville, a town in northeastern
Pennsylvania, is expected to attend the event.
"I urge everyone to see it," said Susan Barnes of Rices Landing, who
helped arrange the screening. "It provides information I think people
should have before they make a decision" regarding gas well drilling on
their land.
Barnes said the film shows the serious human and environmental impacts
of gas well drilling and the hydraulic fracturing process that is used
to extract natural gas from shale formations such as the Marcellus
Shale in Pennsylvania.
Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking as it is called, can be "extremely
dangerous" because of the chemicals used in the process and their
possible contamination of the land, air and water, she said.
"After seeing this film, I contemplated selling my home and moving,"
said Barnes, who returned to her family home five years ago after
working for 32 years as an actress in Hollywood.
Though the film has received much praise, the drilling industry refers
to it as a "deeply flawed" piece of propaganda.
"Claims made throughout 'Gasland' are fundamentally flawed and
unsupported by the facts. Hydraulic fracturing has been the linchpin to
responsible, job-creating onshore energy development in America for 60
years," said Travis Windle, spokesman for the Marcellus Shale Coalition.
"This tightly regulated technology has never contaminated groundwater,
and this fact has been confirmed by top Pennsylvania and federal
environmental officials," he said.
Windle noted 95.5 percent of the fluid used for fracking is water and
sand. Many of the other additives used in the process are chemicals
that can be found in common household products, he said. A coalition
website also is set up to point out inaccuracies of the film.
According to the film's website, Fox began looking for information
about natural gas drilling after he was approached by a gas company
that wanted to lease his land.
He traveled to a nearby Pennsylvania town where drilling had been
conducted and where it was reported residents were able to light their
drinking water on fire. "This is just one of the many absurd and
astonishing revelations of a new country called Gasland," the film
website said.
The film follows Fox as he travels to communities throughout the
country and talks to residents of problems related to drilling, its
effects on their health and the contamination of their water, land and
air.
Fox is traveling around the country to raise awareness about the
impacts of gas drilling on the environment.
Barnes, who contacted him for the screening, said he was excited to
come to Southwestern Pennsylvania. The film focuses on many areas where
drilling has been done for the last five to 10 years, but Fox also is
interested in areas where the industry is now beginning to grow
quickly, she said.
The film debuted on HBO in June and is being broadcast on that network
through 2012.