From “Not Evil, Just Wrong”: Gasland director hides full facts
Written by Phelim McAleer
Josh Fox has made a documentary that makes some pretty alarming claims about gas drilling across the US. But as is often the case when these claims are examined they do not stand up to scrutiny.
Fox’ documentary Gasland, claims that fracking, a way of drilling for natural gas, has polluted water and endangered lives. One of the most alarming scenes is when he lights water that residents claim has been polluted by fracking. It is dramatic and at first glance seems like a slam dunk. I mean they can light their water – it is polluted and there is gas drilling nearby. It must be responsible.
But then a little digging reveals a few inconvenient facts. A 1976 study by the Colorado Division of Water found that this area was plagued with gas in the water problems back then. And it was naturally occurring.
As the report stated there was “troublesome amounts of methane” in the water decades before fracking began. It seems that in geographical areas gas has always been in the water.
But Josh Fox knew this and chose not to put it in Gasland.
I asked him about this omission at a recent screening at Northwestern University in Chicago.
He said he had not included these facts that questioned his alarmism because “they were not relevant.” He also dropped the bombshell that I had not been aware of that there were media reports of people lighting their water as far back as 1936. Again this was not included in Gasland because it was not relevant.
Perhaps Josh you should include all the evidence and let people figure out what is relevant and what is not.
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Note from Anthony: The Gasland director apparently didn’t like this video being used to criticize him (which falls under fair use) and he has pulled it from YouTube claiming a copyright violation. Fortunately, there are other options besides YouTube to show Phelim McAleer’s video:
And as way of verification of the Gasland’s claim of fracking causing methane in groundwater was based on a fabricated claim or not, I went looking for the 1976 report that McAleer cited. I didn’t find it, but I did find another report from the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) which was equally damning:
Source: http://search.datapages.com/data/doi/10.1306/03B5B46B-16D1-11D7-8645000102C1865D
Additionally, on May 13th, the New York Times reported:
Hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” got a clean bill of health this week in the first scientific look at the safety of the oil and production practice.
So in light of all this, perhaps this description of Gasland’s director Josh Fox’ situation would be apt:
Liar, liar, tap water on fire!
Lest anyone think that natural gas right at the surface is a problem unique to the United States, I offer this video of the “Door to Hell” in Turkmenistan.
Also, back in 2009, before the green movement went fracking crazy, Treehugger reported this story about methane in a lake that could be ignited in a matter of fact sort of way.
Why Yes, Methane Bubbling Up From a Frozen Lake Can Be Lit on Fire
Here’s the video:
No mention of fracking or drilling nearby.
Even research scientists get a kick out of naturally occurring biogenic methane:
This was a very informative blog, thank you.
I particularly enjoyed reading the last two paragraphs by Martin Brumby says: June 5, 2011 at 1:15 am comment
Arguably, many of the alleged problems we have had over the years have been attributable to BigGas, BigCoal and BigOil refusing to stand up to the likes of Fox, and Fiends of the Earth, Greenpiss and all the rest when they have been spouting lying nonsense. Not suggesting that Exxon should start playing hard ball with the little people who can’t be expected to necessarily get their facts right. But when rich organisations with numerous full time paid “experts” like WWF weigh in with their usual pernicious and tendentious bullshit they MUST be answered by legal action.
Instead BigOil and the rest have been much too interested in being “Mr. Nice Guy” and contributing money to crooks like the late unlamented Stephen Schneider.
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/06/04/the-gasland-movie-a-fracking-shame-director-pulls-video-to-hide-inconvenient-truths/#comment-674055
The comment KnR says: May 2, 2011 at 11:28 am
What a bunch of cynics you are , their next study on the difficulties of starting a fire underwater , will surely silence you all
was surely apt.
source: WUWT 2 May 2011 Stunning discovery by USFS and AP: dead trees burn faster
And for some inane reason, I think should what Martin Brumby suggest come to fruition, that the ‘experts’ may well be found to be supplied with information from the well tenured public servants or vice versa.
What free market types label ‘self-interest’. That’s a cyclical sort of way.
Feeds the ever burgeoning policy/legislative process for all and one.
Russell Good says:
June 6, 2011 at 1:23 am
What right do we humans have to plunder the landscape
what right do you have to prevent me from producing and selling for a profit the minerals under the ground I own?
There must be a balance. Fracking is not nearly as bas as it’s been made out to be? So why do so many continue to spread disinformation regarding it? Hmmmm…..
I’ve read that natural seeps of oil in the Gulf of Mexico have slowed down and some even stopped after oil drilling started out there.
Perhaps if the fracking can reduce the total amount of natural gas in the system, it will actually decrease this problem as well.
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Russell Good says: June 6, 2011 at 1:23 am
What right do we humans have to plunder the landscape all over the planet. Bulldozing it. Drilling it. Fracking it.Blowing it up. And leaving a toxic cocktail of chemicals in the ground risking the life source for numerous generations. Forget the politics. This is a fight for sanity, and for life on earth.
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Russel – if humanity did not drill, frack and blow and otherwise extract mineral resources from the Earth, you most certainly would not have a life to live. Your hair-shirt, Dark Age utopia would sustain a world population of about 50 million – in poverty, starvation and disease.
So if you really don’t like the pressure that humanity is placing on the the Earth, then do the decent thing and relieve the Earth of your share of that pressure. And please do it in an environmentally friendly and sustainable manner, preferably involving composting.
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People are getting excited about a 1.5 magnitude earthquake?
In terms of energy, that’s the equivalent to what, dropping the china?
Russell Good says:
June 6, 2011 at 1:23 am
First you say that you are neither left nor right, then you post this nonsense?
At least it only took a couple of minutes for you to reveal your true motivations.
Mikael Pihlström says: June 5, 2011 at 2:04 am
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From having lived in the Californian deserts and experienced many small earthquakes, I can tell you that you can hardly feel a 3.0 earthquake unless you are standing right over the epicenter. If you are in a moving car, even 4.0 earthquakes can easily be missed. (It happened to me 3 times, all within 5 miles of their epicenters.)
Californians (well at least the sensible ones) welcome all those small, non-damaging quakes because they gradually release the growing stresses along fault lines. When small quakes stop happening in a region, the probability of a major quake increases.
So, if fracking really does cause *small* earthquakes (that cause no damage), maybe we actually need a lot more fracking rather than less in order to protect the planet and mankind. (I’m using the generic meaning of mankind, not just males. Wouldn’t want to live in a world without the ladies! 😉
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Mark Wagner says:
June 5, 2011 at 12:35 pm
fracking/fraccing
Fraccing, frac, fracced do not appear in Webster’s online (or anywhere that I can find).
Webster’s, Dallas Morning News, Newsweek, New York Times all spell it with a “k.”
Get over it.
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You choose to be wrong then. In the oil and gas industry it’s fraccing or fracing. There is NO “K”.
I certainly wouldn’t take MSM’s spelling over someone in the industry. 😉
And certainly NOT anything from the NYT!
DavidMHoffer,
Interesting reading, your water testing regs. I noticed that these are the public utility regs, in compliance with the clean water act. Most interesting to note though, no requirement to test for methane in the water supply.
I’m not saying that they don’t test for it, only that it’s not required. So if it’s not required for a public utility, why would it be required for a private residence? And for that matter, why would a private well owner pay for a test that the state has not deemed not a significant enough risk to issue legislation on for public water utilities.
Personally, I have no idea how many districts have well regs that would require you to test for the presence of natural gas, but I would wager that they are probably only in areas where there has been a significant natural problem in the past or a documented issue with contamination currently. Either way Coloradoans are not required to test for the presence of Methane. Pennslyvania (where I currently live) is not required to test for it. And Indiana (where I used to live) is not required to test for it.
I’m not saying no one does, I’m just saying that it may not be as straight forward from an owner/records perspective as some would make it sound. Either way, moving forward, the companies themselves will now start doing pre and post tests to mitigate future liability. I would also state that is seems odd no one at the gas companies would have thoght to test for this since they’re pumping water into the ground to extract natural gas.
I can light my farts on fire. Did fracking cause that?
this is just like the nuclear hit piece movie with Meryl Streep…they need to see where this guy got his funding and what his background is because i thought it was too convenient that all of a sudden we had this huge new source of natural gas via frakking and then (big shocker!) some movie is already in the can and ready to spread green propaganda….just too convenient…and you know the green lefties are worried about this cheap natural gas impacting their beloved solar and wind dreams…
Davidmhoffer wrote: “As for your assumption that you live in a highly regulated state that doesn’t have mandatory testing requirements and that somehow suggests that other jurisdictions don’t either… well congrats on making a broad determination on a sample size of ONE.”
Ah, if you have followed the comments throughout, you’ll note that I was probably the fourth or fifth person to contradict your assertion. In fact, I could find no one who agreed with your assertion (assumption) that water testing of private wells is common, and those posters were commenting on several different states. It appears to me that you are the one using “a sample size of ONE” but that’s hardly the point. The point is that you will get called out effectively in here when you make unsupported assertions, a fact that makes this blog an excellent source of information, due to the vast amount of information stored in the heads of the people who post comments (and I don’t include myself in that description, by the way) who are willing to share their knowledge and expand upon, or take issue with, points in the main postings.
As to my own knowledge base, which partially revolves around the teaching of phonics, if “fraccing” was indeed once the preferred spelling it was doomed to be replaced because it violates one of the most reliable rules of English spelling unless it were intended to be pronounced “frak-sing.”
The rule: The letter “c” is pronounced with the /s/ sound when it is followed by one of the letters e, i or y. Otherwise it is pronounced with the /k/ sound. And yes, there are exceptions, but they are few and far between. (“Tucson” and “soccer” being two for starters.) The British are a bit less inclined to apply this rule (compare our “skeptic” with their “sceptic”) which perhaps explains why a Canadian could live with “fraccing.” An American will be much, much more comfortable with “fracking.”
Instead of whining and complaining these folks should be collecting the gas and using it for heating.
Another case of folks complaining about the spillage from the cup running over.
Please see this statement from Northwestern regarding the video Phelim McAleer mashed together:
On May 24, 2011, Students for Ecological and Environmental Development (SEED) and Northwestern University Community Development Corps. (NCDC) hosted Josh Fox to speak with students after a screening of his documentary, Gasland. In the past week, there have been several deliberately misleading articles and videos of the event posted online. The author, Phelim McAleer, has cherry-picked single statements made by Mr. Fox and left out the surrounding context in order to advance his own seriously misguided political agenda. We feel it is necessary to discredit this biased attack against Mr. Fox’s work. The blog entry and videos do not accurately reflect the discussion during the Q&A event.
Contrary to what his video and articles would suggest, Mr. McAleer repeated the exact same question concerning fracking research multiple times without listening to Mr. Fox’s logical, coherent responses, interrupting him frequently. After approximately five minutes of this, representatives of SEED and NCDC stepped in, asking Mr. McAleer to refrain from monopolizing the Q&A period. During this time, in a display of exceptionally poor taste, Mr. McAleer became increasingly confrontational and belligerent. When pressed by Mr. Fox, Mr. McAleer refused to disclose any relationships he might have with oil and gas drilling companies. Perhaps most troublingly, Mr. McAleer did not appear able to grasp the geological arguments made by Mr. Fox, who demonstrated a nuanced understanding of the geology of fracking throughout the presentation. During the reception after the event, Mr. McAleer was again disruptive, pressing Mr. Fox on his earlier question and attacking Mr. Fox’s journalistic credentials. Once again, representatives of SEED and NCDC requested he leave the event, as he was not contributing to meaningful discussion and was acting in a hostile manner. Needless to say Mr. McAleer ought to consider himself persona non grata at Northwestern University in the future. Phelim McAleer’s dishonest and diversionary tactics do not represent the respectful discourse we hope to cultivate.
We categorically and unequivocally condemn the propagation of any dishonest or misleading information that distort Mr. Fox’s statements at Northwestern University, violate his intellectual property, or defame his character.
Zieex Zeburz:
Are you confusing perforating the well casing with putting high pressure into formations to break them apart?
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Rod Everson says:
June 6, 2011 at 9:25 am
An American will be much, much more comfortable with “fracking.”
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Thanks, that’s a relief. I wouldn’t know how to pronounce “fraccing”. Now, “fracking”, that’s frackin’ obvious. 🙂
Davidmhoffer, neither MD or VA require testing for private wells other than coliform testing before a property sale. And my well water, loaded w/iron (& iron bacteria), calcium, magnesium & traces of H2S still tastes much better than city water, which despite treatment still has leftover hints of “stinky river water” taste.
Late to the party, but I would like to point out that the proper spelling of the terms are “frac” and “fracing”, not “frack” and “fracking.” There’s no “k” in the word “fracture.”
Sad thing is Josh already got the ball rolling, this won’t stop until there’s a lawsuit that wins in court to stop “spreading the fear” nonsense
If I had methane bubbling up from my water well, I’d look for a way to separate the gas from the water and use both. It wouldn’t need to be any great quantity for the cut in my gas bill to be worth it.
http://www.fightgaslandcensorship.com is the new home of the attempt by “Anne and Phelim” to expose the misleading film about fracing.
Unfortunately, many of you have forgotten that the film, “Gasland,” shows that the water was filled with drilling mud by the couple who set their tap water on fire for demontration. That’s a fact that some of you have left out. Well, MANY of you have left out. Sorry. “Gasland” has numerous stories and it is a movie that offers us a warning about drilling and fracking. Those of us who live near it all know the truth. Most people haven’t experienced it and don’t want to believe these horror stories. Truth in this case is stranger than fiction.
Seems most people missed the whole point of the movie Gasland. It wasn’t about burning water at all. That was just a side-effect.
The main concern is the excessive use of clean water and hazardous chemicals used in the fracking process. The flowback water is a serious issue. Who is cleaning it and how are they doing it? Those are the questions that need to be addressed.
But then again, I’m just a stupid European. All I know is that we Dutch can safely drink water from our taps allover the country. As soon as some big corporation comes along wanting to inject hazardous stuff into our earth we will object to it.
Nice try Mr McAleer, is that all you have got? People who Josh interviewed in the movie clearly stated the quality of water got considerably worse after the drilling started. Maybe it was slightly contaminated before the process, I don’t know. Yes, there are reports there was some amount of gas present in underground water, however, can you show us some evidence from each of the affected household that their water was as bad before the drilling? If you cannot prove the water was contaminated before the drilling started than you should really be quiet!
Mr McAleer, you know hydraulic fracturing is not an environmentally friendly technology for number of reasons, e.g. it uses large amount of water, uses toxic chemicals, there is large amount of toxic waste produced, etc. As Arend just said, it is not about presence of gas in water after the drilling, it is about environmental damage it causes all together. If I could, I would lock you up in a room with all your money and a glass of water. After 3 days I would ask you how much you are willing to pay for another glass of water.
It is really sad we live in the world where big corporations have so much power they can influence government legislations and get away with all damage they cause. We live in the world that is governed by big corporations and money, not a democratic government. The government is just a bunch of corrupted individuals with money hungry pockets!
What can one expect? It is FOX, after all!!!!!!