Let's Talk About Hydro-Fracking

The gas and oil industries tout natural gas as an extremely important source of energy for reducing pollution and maintaining a clean and healthy environment. But is it?

Natural gas is extracted from shale formations using a process called hydraulic fracturing, hydro-fracking, or just fracking. While Massachusetts is not a targeted area for extraction by the industry due to the absence of major shale formations, possibly the most exciting, in terms of revenue to the gas and oil industries, is the Marcellus Shale. It's located in much of the Northeast United States, including our next door neighbor, New York state.

Many of New York's citizens are highly concerned about the inherent risks of hydro-fracking not being addressed in the industry's promotional ads and are currently fighting the expansion of the industry in their state. These include:

1. Hydro-fracking activities operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week during production.

2. Volumes of toxic, radioactive, and caustic liquid waste by-products pose storage, treatment, and disposal problems.

3. Regular operations, as well as accidents can adversely impact the environment and public health.

4. Especially problematic is the lack of federal protection for drinking water, air quality, water treatment infrastructure, and landowner liability.

Communities from Texas to Pennsylvania have already been impacted from industrial hydro-fracking operations. A peer reviewed study published in the National Academy of Science found water wells near gas wells had 17 times higher methane levels. Families in Dimock, PA live with drinking water contaminated with methane and heavy metals. Blowouts from gas wells have spewed liquid fracking waste into the air and into local streams.

It's important that we understand the potential long-term impact on all of us.

Josh Fox investigated fracking for very personal reasons. He grew up in the verdant woods of the Delaware River valley. In 2009, he learned his land was on top of the Marcellus Shale, a giant reservoir of natural gas that stretches across the Appalachians and that he would be paid to lease his land for natural gas extraction. Part mystery, part travelogue, and part banjo showdown, GASLAND documents Josh's cross-country odyssey to find out if the controversial process of hydraulic fracturing or fracking is actually safe. As he interviews people who live on or around current fracking sites, Josh learns of things gone horribly wrong, from illness to hair loss to flammable water. His inquiries lead him ever deeper into a web of secrets, lies, conspiracy, and contamination. Unearthing a shocking story about a practice that is understudied and inadequately regulated, GASLAND races to find answers about fracking before its far too late.

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