When the Sundance award-winning film, Gasland, begins nationwide broadcast on HBO this Monday, the curtain will rise on Act II of the health tragedy wrought by the insurgent fossil fuel race to profit. This exquisitely crafted documentary feels like America's Nuremberg, as ordinary heartland citizens rise up to indict gas giants, who, they claim, have been on the loose since 2005, when former Vice-President Dick Cheney crafted the so-called Halliburton Loophole.
The Halliburton Loophole expressly exempts oil and gas companies, from customary safety measures, health safeguards, regulatory oversights, penalties and liabilities that most Americans assume are in place to protect citizens, health and resources. As the film depicts, since 2005, the companies have ratcheted into high gear around the country, using a fuel collection practice, called "fracking" linked to drinking water contamination and health harm. Now they have their sights set on New York, with Albany lawmakers currently meeting behind closed doors to either grant or withhold permission to drill in New York, until after the EPA completes safety studies. In the next few days, the Albany decision could effect the health and water supplies of people in New York City, Philadelphia, New York State, New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania where two weeks ago an exploding gas well spewed forth 35,000 gallons of toxins for 16 hours. Moreover, film-maker Josh Fox says that if New York just says: no, it could start a nation-wide trend to halt unsafe fuel prospecting.
Fracking drills deep into the earth to bring forth gas (and radiation) mixing nearly 600 toxic, proprietary chemicals with millions of gallons of public water. Though natural gas is marketed as the "safe" energy source compared with coal, according to an Environmental Working Group report, one single well contains chemicals sufficient to "contaminate more than 100 billion gallons of drinking water." When film-maker Josh Fox tracks the hundreds of truckloads used to convey the process into (and out of) a region, the numbers reveal that nearly half of these chemicals are left behind to evaporate into the air, and seep into wells, aquifers, streams, and creeks that flow into rivers. Due to the exemption from Superfund Cleanup, no remediation is required of drillers.
According to people Fox interviewed in Colorado, Texas, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico and Pennsylvania (states which have already submitted), those seduced by a promised sliver of massive profits, wake up to find that this environmental equivalent of unprotected sex, can all too often contaminate household drinking water, with carcinogens and neurotoxins (found by lab tests.)
In scene after scene of Gasland, families (in rural areas with once pristine water) turn on the kitchen tap. What comes out is darkened, opaque, smelly, chemical-laden water--that explodes into flames when ignited by a match. Yard high flames shoot up from streams and rivers. Many adults and children report health problems, such as persistent headaches, asthma, chronic pain, neurological illnesses, brain tumors and leukemia, which they attribute to drinking and bathing in post-fracking water. Animals lose hair, waste away, and die. In exchange for non-disclosure agreements, the gas companies now truck in drinking water to many households with contaminated water.
Nevertheless, in Gasland, the companies declare before Congress that unprotected fracking is safe. They deny any connection to these widespread problems because there is no "proof." And they have a point. For example, when a gas drill was installed near a rancher's property, his well water turned black overnight. But beyond this circumstantial evidence, without government agencies charged with oversight, what proof can the average citizen provide?
Just as in the Gulf crisis, some contend that proofs of safety should be required prior from industries using unsafe practices. Many assume that government regulatory policies and inspectors are in place to enforce rules that protect public resources and health. But they aren't. For example, New York, where drillers poise to install over 500 gas wells, has 16 inspectors and an environmental oversight agency, which government officials admit is riddled with conflicts of interest.
The Halliburton Loophole exempts oil and gas companies from the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, the Clean Drinking Water Act, and the Superfund Act. In Albany, the Abbabbo-Engelbright bill number S7592, being voted on this week, imposes a moratorium on gas drilling until after a slated EPA study is done. Environmental groups urge calls to Albany now to ask Senator Malcolm Smith, the Senator President, is at 518-455-2701 or 212-298-5585 and Senate Majority Conference Leader John. L. Sampson is at 518-455-2788 and 718-649-7653 to support a one and/or a two year moratorium.
Since New York City's water supply is unfiltered, New York is at a crossroads: Trust the drillers or use protection? City residents, lulled by promises that the upstate reservoir areas will be drilling-free, "have no real assurance that this promise will hold," says NRDC attorney, Kate Sindig. Unless the state-wide ban passes before Albany's immanent six-month recess, fracking will proceed. Sindig predicts that "they will begin drilling in areas outside the reservoir watershed, and then make their move into the watershed. Once they are here, it will be hard to contain them. New York City residents should be very worried."
With this major decision pending, Gasland is a cliff-hanger for everyone alarmed by the erosion of protections seen in the Gulf crisis. Will New Yorkers, (many of whom are unaware of the vote) be the next to succumb? or the first to put the brakes on the industries exempted by the Halliburton Loophole?
Wednesday Update: Concerned New Yorkers can call State Senate Rules Committee members to ask then support the Addabo Bill # S7592A which asks for a Moratorium on High Volume Horizontal Slick Water Hydrofracking until 120 days after the EPA (federal) study is complete. (See contact info in comments below)
Stay tuned. Watch Gasland preview.
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http://www.wbng.com/news/local/97517884.html
and
http://nyc.indymedia.org/or/2010/07/111582.html
Also, you quote NRDC, promoters of the film, and robert redford is on their board and behind the sundance film festival, but do you know NRDC supports natural gas? it is part of their official policy.
The study and moratorium angles are only pushed by greenwashers, naive or industry people. If you really ask and look into it, only a ban makes sense. Thanks.
Support a ban.
This is a public health issue, please ask your senators to wait until the science is in.
Thanks- because my water is your water.
R Encon & Rules Owen H. Johnson 518-455-3411 or 631-669-9200
ojohnson@senate.state.ny.us
R Rules William J. Larkin 518-455-2770 or 845-567-1270
larkin@senate.state.ny.us
D Encon & Conf & rules Kevin Parker 518-455-2580 or 718-629-6401
parker@senate.state.ny.us
R Rules James L. Seward 518-455-3131 or 607-432-5524
seward@senate.state.ny.us
R Rules Dean G. Skelos 518-455-3171 or 516-766-8383
skelos@senate.state.ny.us
D Conf Lead & Rules chair Malcolm Smith 518-455-2701 or 718-528-4290
masmith@senate.state.ny.us Conference reviewing impact of both bills
D Rules William T. Stachowski 518-455-2426 or 716-826-3344
stachows@senate.state.ny.us
D Conf & Rules David J. Valesky 518-455-2838 or 315-478-8745
valesky@senate.state.ny.us
D Conf Lead & Rules Pedro Espada Jr. 518-455-3395 or 718-652-4329
espada@senate.state.ny.us
R Rules Hugh T. Farley 518-455-2181 or 518-843-2188
farley@senate.state.ny.us
I have to wonder what the O&G industry lobbyists will be saying 2 years from now when tap water in New York and Philly is capable of catching fire like the folks in Colorado demonstrated. By far the most damaging thing Cheney did was to exempt the O$G industry from the clean water/clean air acts.
Alison
www.healthjournalist.com
To me the answer lies in requiring (by law) full disclosure as a part of the leasing process, and repealing the exemptions currently provided to the O&G industries. If land owners realized that they were potentially contaminating the water supply and thereby putting their lives at risk I would have a hard time believing that they would sign the agreements.
Alison
Everyone needs to know about this besides people like me who read "mediation" and "nutrition articles in the "living" section
land owners have taken the industry bait, desperate for more income from their properties. until they take responsibility for those who would have to live with the scorched earth landscape, polluted water and air, and rural roads crowded with tanker trucks, then they're no different than BP, Exxon, Encana, Chesapeake, or other gas companies who want to make a quick buck by using migrant workers of their choosing, and being the sole entities to profit off of this.
if this is so safe, why not wait until the US EPA completes its promised assessment of hydrofracturing? what's the hurry when the welfare of many people who cannot afford land to lease (and the water they drink) hangs in the balance? drill first, ask questions later? tell that to those whose lives and livelihoods depend upon clean waters in the Gulf.
communities all over new york are not allowing industry to dictate their rights. see nyh2o.org for what you can do to stand up for the SUSTAINABLE economy that new york state can provide without spoiling its beauty or ecologic viability.
It's beyond unfortunate that at a time like this, that the farmers and ranchers from the western parts of our country, filmed in Gasland, should be abandoning and polluting farm land and making it unusable for who knows how long? It's because of misplaced supports for agri-businesses that they are driven to this. Once the harm is done, it can't be reversed.
We need to change governmental priorities.
Alison
get my free health, science, and action ezine at www.healthjournalist.com
Alison
www.healthournalist.com
Surely we can all count on such an objective source to "completely debunk" assertions about the risks of fracking. Snort.
http://www.citizen.org/Page.aspx?pid=3543
http://www.energyindepth.org/2010/06/debunking-gasland/
In openness, I work with cngnow.com - a movement to get more natural gas cars on the streets!
It's not my area of expertise to speak to how to transition from fossil fuels to renewable sources. But the objection to the novel practice of fracking is because it's not regulated and monitored to assure safety for people, water, air, and other life. Nor are the large companies who undertake this process accountable for the problems they cause. Instead they deny it. Nor are public oriented safety monitoring systems in place. Nor are there agencies to whom communities can turn when there is a problem.
The gas companies have had a field day thanks to the Halliburton Loophole. They have not demonstrated any integrity around self-monitoring, To the contrary. They've demonstrated a lack of concern. Nor do they by taxation contribute to the public for the use of public commons, such as road use, use of millions of gallons of public water supplies, etc. They are exempted from Super Fund contributions to clean up. And they resist a return to accountability.
I'm not an expert but if there was a safe way to obtain gas, they aren't doing it, they don't want to do it, and they resist every attempt to restore regulations requiring them to do it.
They want a free ride. So it's not about the gas-- it's about the getting of it.
Alison
Medical bills being what they are, many of these people can expect to end up using that money to pay for treatments from the illness caused by the pollution of the drilling.
As a health reporter, I find the health aspects of great concern. Our bodies are made of at least 65% water. Our produce is made up of water. All waterways are interconnected-- so the more we damage water, the more we hurt ourselves. As Theo Colburn mentions in the film, most of the chemicals used are proprietary. However, when outside researchers have tested contaminated water, they are able to identify a number of chemicals harmful to human health. Many more have never been researched. So this is playing Russian roulette with people's health.
Alison
Get my free health, environmental, and action ezine at www.healthjournalist.com