Summary Of The Film 'Gasland' By Josh Fox

“Fracking” isn’t a word that most people are familiar with unless they are well informed or active in local government or natural gas extraction. “Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, involves extracting natural gas from shale formations underground” (Collier, Galatas, Harrelson-Stephens, 2008). During the process known as fracking, millions of gallons of water are shot underground into shale formations to help bring the natural gas trapped inside the formations to be released so that it can surface and become available for extraction. This is the technique that is used for traditional fracking methods. Although fracking increases the states natural gas production, it also carries some negative side effects that are affecting the state and its people.

The mismanagement of the practice has the potential to create environmental damage such as water contamination, radioactive spills, and increased seismic activity that could cost thousands in dollars in damage. Furthermore, the unintended consequences of fracking can have detrimental effects on the environmental. The potential for water contamination can pose both an immediate and long term risk to environmental stability, including landscape distortion, inhabitability and ecological displacement. This contamination of drinking water can also be detrimental to the human environment, limiting the amount of safe water available for both the residential and commercial human environment. With the increase of fracking, the level of disapproval for the practice has only mounted. Concerns including overconsumption of

The issue of whether we should continue fracking without research has been widely debated around the world. The issue is important because it has fundamental environmental concerns and economic questions about the process of hydraulic fracturing. “Fracking” is the process of penetrating down into the earth before a high-pressure water mixture is absorbed at the rock to release the gas inside. Water, sand, and chemicals are then inserted into the rock with compression which allows the gas to flow out to the head of the well. Fracking fluid, which can be polluted with heavy metals like arsenic, known human carcinogens, has seeped into local waterways and polluted groundwater. People who live near fracking wells have a heightened danger of developing cancer, asthma, and other serious ailments associated with inhaling or ingesting the toxic chemicals involved in the fracking process. Countries approach fracking and researching much differently from each other. The injection of fluid into shale beds at high pressure to extract petroleum resources has been happening across the United States of America at rapid pace. By 2003, a gigantic public relations campaign was launched to lobby Congress to pass what is

To environmental advocates and opponents of fracking, the process is more than dollars and cents. On a rudimentary level, the oil and natural gas produced via hydraulic fracturing are fossil fuels, and thus harmful to the environment in comparison to renewable, clean sources of energy such as solar and wind power. These renewable energy fields are likewise capable of bolstering American energy production and independence and creating high paying careers. Moreover, research suggests that fracking practices could cause serious methane leaks, canceling out the supposed reduction in greenhouse gas

Across the world, protest groups are gaining momentum in the fight against Fracking. Many concerns among the local populations include fears for industrialized landscapes, increased power of multinational enterprises, ground and surface water pollution, food production and general human and environmental health (De Rijke 2013). These are becoming important issues to the general public. The increasing awareness about the dangers of fracking are being told from media sources such as the documentary “Gasland.” The film directed by Josh Fox, about was nominated for an Academy Award 2011. The documentary is famous for showing tap water burst into flames due to methane gas contamination.

Natural gas is the transitional fuel that is cleaner than coal and oil that has been experiencing a boom in the United States for the last few decades. Natural gas is most familiar to us in the form of heating and cooking on gas ranges. It is abundantly available and modern technology has made it much more accessible and cheaper than other energy sources. Hydraulic fracturing, known short as fracking, is the combination of technology with water and chemicals, and high pressure, that breaks through shale rocks to capture energy. The Climate One podcast titled “ Fracking Boom,”explains America’s recent obsession with fracking, surrounding its history, economic stimulus, construction, and community opposition among other issues. Presenting the talk were Russell Gold, author of The Boom: How Fracking Ignited American Energy Revolution and Changed the World, Mark Zoback, professor of Geophysics at Stanford University, and Trevor Houser, co-author of Fueling Up: The Economic Implications of America’s Oil and Gas Boom. The three guest speakers shared their expertise on how the fracking boom can power America’s economy, but can only be successful if the process in making the wells for fracking, are done along guidelines within the regulations.

Tap water isn’t supposed to catch fire. It does in Dimock. Josh Fox, the director of "Gasland," chronicles his search to discover what gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale might do to his beloved Delaware River watershed should he and his neighbors sign the leases they received in the mail. That search takes him first to Dimock and then across the United States, where he meets people struggling with unexpected consequences of gas drilling in multiple states. He spent time with citizens in their homes and on their land as they relayed their stories of natural gas drilling in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and Texas, among others. He spoke with residents who have experienced a variety of chronic health problems directly traceable

Besides the fluid that does return, is left on wells to evaporate, creating clouds of “volatile organic compounds” (AlterNet). Leading to asthma, anemia, and cancer. Additionally, there is reported about “human-induce earthquakes” (Ellsworth). Again, just adding more to the list of why eliminating the practice of hydraulic fracking needs to stop. Then, this point in which we as responsible citizens must act to ban this practice, yet when people joined to stop fracking in their communities, such Is the case of Denton, a town where the situation became a “state-versus-local-control battle”(Earth justice). As after the resident lawfully voted to ban the fracking operation, lawsuits were brought up, henceforth the operation resume its work weeks later. Yet the answer relies on the power of the people, if a community managed to stop a fracking well, for a few weeks; imagine what whole districts can achieve against the mining companies. Thus, if more people can be informed about the dangers of fracking, the more opportunities exist to defeat the fracking process, hence protecting our natural resources together with our

The documentary Gasland, directed and narrated by Josh Fox, tells the frightening story of corporate greed and a lack of concern for the negative effects of natural gas drilling called fracking. The story begins with Josh receiving a letter from a natural gas company seeking permission to drill on his family’s Pennsylvania estate in exchange for $100,000. In an effort to decide whether to accept the deal, Josh drives from state to state interviewing scientists, politicians and mostly working class people being affected by this method of natural gas extraction. In areas where people welcomed the additional income and allowed fracking on their property thinking this process was safe, they were now experiencing unclean underground water that is igniting, animals that are losing their hair

Fracking negatively impacts environmental health the most. By using the process of fracking to reach natural gas, fracking induced earthquakes have occurred in states such as Oklahoma. Also, scarred earth and rock are left behind from fracking companies and wells, damaging the earth. Finally, water pollution and waste is a common result of fracking. One example of water pollution, is methane gas, which is commonly used in fracking, has been found in tap water in areas near fracking wells. Moreover, chemical traces are left in underground water sources.

In December 2011, the federal Environmental Protection Agency concluded that fracking operations could be responsible for groundwater pollution.“Today’s methods make gas drilling a filthy business. You know it’s bad when nearby residents can light the water coming out of their tap on fire,” says Larry Schweiger, president of the National Wildlife Federation. What’s causing the fire is the methane from the drilling operations. A ProPublica investigation in 2009 revealed methane contamination was widespread in drinking water in areas around fracking operations in Colorado, Texas, Wyoming, and Pennsylvania. The presence of methane in drinking water in Dimock, Pa., had become the focal point for Josh Fox’s investigative documentary, Gasland, which received an Academy Award nomination in 2011 for Outstanding Documentary; Fox also received an Emmy for non-fiction directing. Fox’s interest in fracking intensified when a natural gas company offered $100,000 for mineral rights on property his family owned in Milanville, in the extreme northeast part of Pennsylvania, about 60 miles east of Dimock.

Pursuing hydraulic fracturing as a top manager of Chevron, I will describe the dilemmas that are associated with fracking. The first problem with this procedure is finding the appropriate land and leasing it from the landowners. With talk around the country, it can be difficult finding land because of landowners’ personal experience with the practice of hydraulic fracturing. In southwestern Pennsylvania there have been cases of animal birth defects, faucet erosion, stomach pains, and other health issues; in response, according to the New York Times, “Range Resources maintains that a D.E.P. study from 2010 indicates no air pollution of any kind” (Griswold, 2011). The country is torn in

Gasland is a documentary film by Josh Fox. It all began when a natural gas company wishing to buy his land for use of drilling approached him on him, in Milanville, Pennsylvania. He was told that his home was sitting on a natural gas field called the Marcellus Shale. The company claimed the Marcellus Shale was “the Saudi Arabia of natural gas” (Gasland). All of that led Josh to want to find out more about what exactly natural gas drilling meant for everyone around the country. This led him to the 2005 Energy Bill, which was pushed through by Dick Cheney, exempted the oil and natural gas industry from the Clean Water Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, Clean Air Act, and many other environmental laws. The information is interesting because Dick Cheney was CEO of Halliburton, the father of natural gas drilling. All of this information led Josh to the western America to see first hand the affects natural gas drilling that has been active in that area for at least a decade. Natural gas is extracted through a process called hydraulic fracturing, which drills a well and then pumps a mixture of water and fracking fluid. This fracking fluid contains over 595 different chemicals that have been uncovered with no help from the hydraulic fracturing industry. These dangerous chemicals can lead to many health problems experienced by many residents whose house fall around the same area as many fracking sites. One of the people he talked to was Lisa Braken, who grew up in the area of Divide Creek

Wells that are currently thriving and producing a large quantity of jobs will soon reach the end of their golden hour. This will result in a sudden need for many less employees. Fracking companies will not last forever on a single well, and many people will lose their jobs in only a matter of a few years. The nearby companies that had grown due to the fracking dollars will be forced to either drastically downsize, or close entirely due to the once plentiful dollars being gone. Not only will the town’s fracking had once been used in be hurt by this, but it's citizens who had worked in the industry. The people that had gone into fracking will end up right where they started, jobless. Fracking will not last forever, and neither will its economical benefits.

This paper is about fracking and the reason for the disparity between what sciences is telling the public and what the corporations and politicians are doing about gas drilling. In addition, the economic and environmental advantages and disadvantages of allowing the gas companies to have absolute autonomy on oil drilling will be enumerated. Furthermore, the effectiveness of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and The Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) will be discussed.