Gasland: People in 'The Sacrfice Zone'
By ANNE HOLLIDAY
WESB/WBRR News Director
First in a series
Water that can be set on fire when it comes out of a faucet. People too sick to function. Birds and animals that literally drop dead.
Those are just a few of the after-effects of hydrofracking as documented in the award-winning film “Gasland” by Josh Fox. Fox was in Bradford Sunday night for a showing of the film, which will debut nationally on HBO June 21.
Hydro-fracking is the process used in Marcellus Shale drilling in which water laced with nearly 600 chemicals is pumped into the ground to break up the shale and release natural gas.
The drilling companies currently don’t have to disclose the chemicals they’re using because of the so-called “Halliburton Loophole” – pushed by former Vice President Dick Cheney – to the federal Clean Water and Safe Drinking Water acts.
“Wherever this process goes,” Fox said during a panel discussion following the film, “there are significant problems with water.”
“It does seem as if you’re trading one resource, which is a short term resource, for a renewable resource that you need forever and ever,” Fox said.
He added that it’s impossible to clean an aquifer.
“Once a source of pollution is in an aquifer, you can’t ever get it out,” he said. “One of the things we’re rich in in Pennsylvania is water … we shouldn’t take that for granted.”
Fox said making the movie “was about not being able to sleep for a month” after receiving a proposed lease agreement from a company that wanted to drill on his land in Milanville.
He did some research about drilling, and decided he needed to tell the story of the people affected, as well as try to get some answers.
After a visit to Dimock, his travels took him to Colorado, Wyoming, Texas, Arkansas and Alabama among other states. In Dimock, where Cabot Oil & Gas has been fined by the state Department of Environmental Protection for polluting the water supply, Fox spoke with people whose hair was falling out, whose pets had deteriorated to skin and bones and whose water “bubbled and hissed.”
Cabot, based in Houston, Texas, maintains the methane found in the water is naturally occurring and was in water wells in Susquehanna County before they started drilling. Last month, the company released a statement saying it has "accepted the responsibility for remediating the situation, even though the company believes its operations did not cause this gas migration."
Dr. Brian McNamara said, “Even if this was stopped tomorrow, the health effects are going to be around for decades,” and he wanted to know what’s being done to protect people from the “quite drastic health implications.”
Fox said the first step would be a study of what’s already happened and, ideally, it would be an independent health study from a major university that isn’t beholden to anyone.
Nadia Steinzor of Earthworks noted that one of the things the drilling industry likes to say is that there’s no proven case of fracking causing any health problems.
“But there are multiple examples – many, many, many examples from around the country, including right here in the state of Pennsylvania, as you know, in which you can draw a clear connection between fracking activities and the change in water quality, and even quantity,” she said.
“It’s because they’ve gotten this free ride and been exempt that they’re allowed to get away with this,” she said of the drilling companies, adding that it’s important to know Marcellus Shale drilling is different from other types of drilling.
As for the people who have been exposed already, she said her group has talked with many people who say “’It’s too late for us.’ It’s heartbreaking. It’s devastating to see entire communities say, ‘We were the sacrifice zone. So just go out there and prevent other areas from being the sacrifice zone.’”
Other parts of the series will include The Frac Act, leasing and the economy, and the moratorium on Marcellus Shale drilling in New York.
Pictured, Josh Fox introduces "Gasland" to a crowd of about 100 people at the Bromeley Family Theater Sunday night. The film is winner of The Special Jury Prize for documentary at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. For more on the movie -- including a video of the tap water catching on fire -- go to Gasland the Movie.com.
WESB/WBRR News Director
First in a series
Water that can be set on fire when it comes out of a faucet. People too sick to function. Birds and animals that literally drop dead.Those are just a few of the after-effects of hydrofracking as documented in the award-winning film “Gasland” by Josh Fox. Fox was in Bradford Sunday night for a showing of the film, which will debut nationally on HBO June 21.
Hydro-fracking is the process used in Marcellus Shale drilling in which water laced with nearly 600 chemicals is pumped into the ground to break up the shale and release natural gas.
The drilling companies currently don’t have to disclose the chemicals they’re using because of the so-called “Halliburton Loophole” – pushed by former Vice President Dick Cheney – to the federal Clean Water and Safe Drinking Water acts.
“Wherever this process goes,” Fox said during a panel discussion following the film, “there are significant problems with water.”
“It does seem as if you’re trading one resource, which is a short term resource, for a renewable resource that you need forever and ever,” Fox said.
He added that it’s impossible to clean an aquifer.
“Once a source of pollution is in an aquifer, you can’t ever get it out,” he said. “One of the things we’re rich in in Pennsylvania is water … we shouldn’t take that for granted.”
Fox said making the movie “was about not being able to sleep for a month” after receiving a proposed lease agreement from a company that wanted to drill on his land in Milanville.
He did some research about drilling, and decided he needed to tell the story of the people affected, as well as try to get some answers.
After a visit to Dimock, his travels took him to Colorado, Wyoming, Texas, Arkansas and Alabama among other states. In Dimock, where Cabot Oil & Gas has been fined by the state Department of Environmental Protection for polluting the water supply, Fox spoke with people whose hair was falling out, whose pets had deteriorated to skin and bones and whose water “bubbled and hissed.”
Cabot, based in Houston, Texas, maintains the methane found in the water is naturally occurring and was in water wells in Susquehanna County before they started drilling. Last month, the company released a statement saying it has "accepted the responsibility for remediating the situation, even though the company believes its operations did not cause this gas migration."
Dr. Brian McNamara said, “Even if this was stopped tomorrow, the health effects are going to be around for decades,” and he wanted to know what’s being done to protect people from the “quite drastic health implications.”
Fox said the first step would be a study of what’s already happened and, ideally, it would be an independent health study from a major university that isn’t beholden to anyone.
Nadia Steinzor of Earthworks noted that one of the things the drilling industry likes to say is that there’s no proven case of fracking causing any health problems.
“But there are multiple examples – many, many, many examples from around the country, including right here in the state of Pennsylvania, as you know, in which you can draw a clear connection between fracking activities and the change in water quality, and even quantity,” she said.
“It’s because they’ve gotten this free ride and been exempt that they’re allowed to get away with this,” she said of the drilling companies, adding that it’s important to know Marcellus Shale drilling is different from other types of drilling.
As for the people who have been exposed already, she said her group has talked with many people who say “’It’s too late for us.’ It’s heartbreaking. It’s devastating to see entire communities say, ‘We were the sacrifice zone. So just go out there and prevent other areas from being the sacrifice zone.’”
Other parts of the series will include The Frac Act, leasing and the economy, and the moratorium on Marcellus Shale drilling in New York.
Pictured, Josh Fox introduces "Gasland" to a crowd of about 100 people at the Bromeley Family Theater Sunday night. The film is winner of The Special Jury Prize for documentary at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. For more on the movie -- including a video of the tap water catching on fire -- go to Gasland the Movie.com.
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Comments
There should be NO exceptions to the clean air & clean water acts ESPECIALLY exceptions that RUIN both and cause illness and death in both humans and animals.
Our country needs to use this big BP catastrophe as a turning point to head in the right direction!
CLEAN FUELS ONLY!
Sunshine, wind and hydrogen!