Here is the Washington Post’s review of Josh Fox’s sequel documentary Gasland Part II, recently shown on HBO. I’ve previously written about Fox’s controversial criticisms of hydraulic fracturing, including a “counter-documentary” called FrackNation. In following news coverage of the growth of shale exploration and development in the popular media, I have learned that the media does not […]
John Hanger, head of the agency responsible for regulating the oil and gas industry in Pennsylvania, said in an interview by the Philadelphia Inquirer that the movie Gasland, by Josh Fox, was “fundamentally dishonest” and “a deliberately false presentation for dramatic effect,” and called Fox a “propagandist.” Hanger was interviewed by Fox in the movie, […]
Gasland is a film documentary about the dangers caused by hydraulic fracturing of gas wells being drilled in shale plays across the U.S. It won a Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival this year. It was filmed by Josh Fox, whose family owns land in Pennsylvania that is in the Marcellus Shale Play. Gasland is […]
The township of Dimock, Pennsylvania has been the focus of controversy over the environmental impact of hydraulic fracturing. Residents of Dimock rely on groundwater, and in 2009 they were forced to obtain alternate sources because of contamination of their groundwater that they blamed on wells drilled by Cabot. Cabot had drilled and fracked 62 wells […]
Residents of DISH, Texas were awarded a victory by the Amarillo Court of Appeals in their long-running fight with pipeline companies. Sciscoe et al. v. Enbridge Gathering (North Texas), L.P., et al., No. 07-13-00391-CV. In an opinion issued on June 1, the court held that the plaintiffs are entitled to a trial on their claims […]
FrackNation is a documentary by Phelim McAleer and Ann McElhinney, journalists from Ireland, in response to Josh Fox’s Gasland. It recently premiered in several locations and now can be seen on Mark Cuban’s cable channel AXS. I watched it this week, and it can be seen again on AXS February 2 at 2:30 pm Eastern […]
I started writing this blog in February 2009. This is my 136th post. It’s been fun. I had no idea I could find enough topics to write about, but material has not been a problem. A lot has changed in the oil and gas industry in the last three years. The development of unconventional shale plays. The BP oil […]
Josh Fox’s movie Gasland has been nominated for an academy award for best documentary. Gasland, widely criticized by the oil and gas industry, alleges that hydraulic fracturing is the cause of contamination of underground water resources across the country. (See my previous post about controversy surrounding the movie here.) The nomination, and the Fox’s movie about the alleged […]
A new report on the risks and advantages of hydraulic fracturing by Ann Davis Vaughan and David Pursell, “Frac Attack: Risks, Hype, and Financial Reality of Hydraulic Fracturing in the Shale Plays,” provides a much-needed objective summary and analysis of the recent debate over the safety of hydraulic fracturing. Ann Davis Vaughan founded Reservoir Research Partners and […]
Remarkably, three full-length documentaries are in circulation about the perils and benefits of the new shale drilling boom in the US. The first, Gasland, relates stories of the horrors caused by drilling in locations across the country. It won an award at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, and is now showing on HBO. Its official website […]
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