Gasland Problem - 1022 Words

Gasland Problem 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†¦show more content†¦Things can go wrong at every stage. The mantra of the gas industry is there has never been a proven instance of well water contamination caused by the fracking process, which so far remains true. Most of the problems documented in Gasland including in Dimock resulted from the drilling, not the fracking procedure. But that does not mean fracking fluids pose no threat to our water supplies. They contain some chemicals that are harmful even in very tiny amounts. The fluid that comes back up out of the ground is saturated with salts, is sometimes radioactive and often contains harmful heavy metals like arsenic. Carl Kirby, a geologist at Bucknell who does not appear in the film, says the prospect of fracking fluids migrating up through thousands of feet of rock to contaminate water wells is â€Å"unlikely but not impossible.†The history of what’s gone wrong thus far in Pennsylvania suggests accident and human error pose as much risk as the fracking process, an angle Fox does not explore. Several weeks ago, a truck full of fracking brine overturned at an intersection about eight miles from my family home. The spill was contained by local volunteer firemen, county emergency responders an d the drilling company, and it did not contaminate the smallShow MoreRelatedThe Positives and Negatives of Fracking710 Words   |  3 Pagesactions that make money, fracking has it’s positive and negative side effects, but which over powers the other? Below, I will discuss the opinions expressed in Gasland, Fracknation, Truthland, and other articles written on the subject, while offering my own opinion on the subject of fracking. As depicted in the popular documentary Gasland, created by the New Yorker and Pennsylvanian Josh Fox, many negative effects come from fracking. He finds a personal connection to these issues since his familyRead MoreThe, A Documentary By Josh Fox1296 Words   |  6 PagesGasLand, a documentary by Josh Fox, is an extremely informative film about the negative externalities that consumers have to incur since they live in close proximity to a hydrofracking facility. Throughout the film, Fox travels around the country and meets with families that have been negatively impacted by fracking companies moving into their communities. Due to the amount of pollution that hydrofracking can cause, many of the families that Fox meets with no longer have the luxury of clean waterRead MoreFracking Is Upsetting The Way Of Life880 Words   |  4 Pagesbeing deemed unfit for consumption (â€Å"GasLand†). Jeff and Wranda Locker’s washer was flooded with black water not soon after a frackin g site began drilling. They placed faith in the energy company when they supplied them with a reverse osmosis water treatment system that was supposed to filter out the chemicals. However, later they found out that the system didn’t remove glycol ethers which damages brain cells and may well be the cause of Wranda’s fading (â€Å"GasLand†). Imagine one’s mother or father becomingRead MoreThe Infinite Beauty Of Our World1730 Words   |  7 Pages70’ and 72’, as well as the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974 (â€Å"GasLand†). What boggles my mind is the fact that none of this matters anymore, or at least since 2005. At this turning point, Dick Cheney, Vice President throughout the Bush Administration, prepared a bill that would shake the very foundations of the soil beneath our feet. The Energy Bill of 2005 allowed for the creation of a painfully obvious loophole in the system (â€Å"GasLand†). Halliburton CEO, Dick Cheney pushed a bill that would exemptRead MoreThe Energy Crisis Of Josh Fox s Documentary, Gasland, And Natural Gas Extraction Essay2064 Words   |  9 Pagescombined with the egregious aftereffects correlated with natural gas extraction makes the subject of hydraulic fracturing a very high stakes issue. Given the topic, the implications of Josh Fox’s documentary, Gasland, are as high stakes as could be expected. According to Fox’s claims in Gasland, the price of not believing his accusations is too steep to ignore. After the documentary came out in 2010 (IMDb), the industry that Fox sought to condemn agreed that the cost was high, but the consequencesRead MoreThe Is A Documentary Film By Josh Fox1426 Words   |  6 PagesGasland 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 Sh ale. The company claimed the Marcellus Shale was â€Å"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 theRead MoreThe Effects Of Fracking On The American Public2044 Words   |  9 PagesNo matter what the government does to promote hydraulic fracturing, it is still going to be extremely unappealing to those knowledgeable on the topic. As Lisa Bracken states, â€Å"Crap is crap no matter what package you put it in† (GasLand). Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is the process of drilling about a mile into the shale below. Once the shale has been reached, water, sand, and a mixture of over 500 chemicals are injected into the Earth. When the pressure of the Earth hits a certain point, aRead MoreFracking : Present Issues Today s Operational And Global Economy1367 Words   |  6 Pagesamount of money in return for their silence just to b e able to continue their business. Not only are companies being immoral and ignoring the important issues they cause on Americans, they abuse their power simply because they can afford to â€Å"mask† the problem. While oil companies find it easier to hide and do away with forces that impose on their work, a filmmaker by the name of Josh Fox was one of the people to receive a letter in the mail offering one hundred thousand dollars to drill on his land. WhiteRead MoreNatural Gas : A Sustainable And Environmentally Friendly Gases1247 Words   |  5 Pagesconcentrations were six times higher and ethane concentrations were twenty-three times higher at homes within a kilometer of a shale gas well . In other words, there is a direct correlation between fracking and water contamination in local areas. Many health problems have arisen due to water contamination; however, there are not too many regulations. A large question remains which is, why has fracking not been stopped? There is more than enough evidence to prove fracking has extremely negative consequences toRead MoreMovie Analysis : Like A Freak By Stephen Dubner And Steven Levitt920 Words   |  4 PagesAfter taking a college class that an alyzes strategy, it has opened my eyes to the true virtues of people. My project was to contrast the strategies used by two documentary directors; Joshua Fox and Phelim McAleer. Fox directed Gasland and McAleer directed FrackNation. Reading Think Like A Freak by Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt, it was interesting to watch how both directors thought like freaks in their documentaries but it in polar opposite ways. Also, studying from the book of Strategy by Lawrence