Fort Worth crowd gives "Gasland" a standing O

It was a nearly packed house at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth Wednesday night.

The crowd was there for a screening of "Gasland," a documentary that takes a critical eye at the impact of drilling for shale gas. The event was also a fundraiser for the Texas Oil & Gas Accountability Project, an advocate for stronger environmental protections on drilling.

Filmmaker Josh Fox traveled around the country to document the environmental downside of drilling, focusing largely on the impact of hydraulic fracturing on drinking water.

It's not the first documentary to critique natural gas drilling but it's the one getting the most attention. The film won a Special Jury Price at this year's Sundance Film Festival. It will air on HBO on June 21.

"We were always after something that would have national exposure," Fox said at a pre-party for the screening.

Fox devotes most of the film to his investigations of people with contaminated water in his home of northeastern Pennsylvania and in Colorado and Wyoming. He made two trips to Fort Worth but the Barnett Shale takes up less than 10 minutes of the movie.

Nonetheless, local drilling critics expressed excitement about the film and its potential for getting their concerns about natural gas drilling more attention.

"The film tonight, I think, is really going to drive home that we've got some serious problems," state Rep. Lon Burnam told the crowd at the start of the screening in introducing Fox. The Fort Worth Democrat has long called for a moratorium on drilling until questions about safety are properly investigated.

Next month's HBO screening will be a big night for the film, Fox said. He also plans to hold more screenings around the country this summer and promised a theatrical release in the fall.

The image of a man lighting his facuet on fire is one of the most striking moments in the film but it's also been met with some questions about whether the cause is actually drilling-related.

You can see that unforgettable scene here in the film's trailers. :

-Aman Batheja

Comments

[Anhy]

I wouldn't argue with the aitmupsson that there are 2000 trillion cubic feet of total gas resource (of which shale gas represents 25%), therefore 100 years at the current consumption rates.But I would argue with the consumption rate. Even if consumption does not increase, which is not happening in the short run, then in 100 years all transportation vehicles running on gas stop, most electric power plants stop, all feedstocks to industry stop, all residential heating stops, etc. ad absurdum. Civilization as we know it, is over.Based on the available data there is no 100 year supply of gas in an economic sense. It is only in an arithmetic sense. However, I would concede that the shale gas discoveries have extended the fossil fuel era.___________________________Peaktrader, go back to school, google "UNG contango" and have your report back on line by opening of the trading day on Monday.

[Will Evans]

Before signing a gas lease, ask your self, is it really worth it? Are the risks to my children's health worth a few extra grand in the bank?

[Christine Ruggiero]

Comparing gas drilling to the Holocaust might be more appropriate than you might think, though the duration of exposure and suffering might actually be greater when it comes to the O&G industry.

Take our family for example. Among other known nuerologic and carcinogenic chemicals we have been exposed to since Aruba Petroleum arrived 300 feet from our home, Benzene seems to be the hot topic. Prior to Aruba 0 ppbv benzene, after Aruba 01/17/2010 59 ppbv, 02/03/2010 120 ppbv. Christine recently acquired a TCEQ test result from a 2 year old Aruba well showing 11 ppbv of benzene. The TCEQ acceptable level is 1.4 ppbv averaged over one year.

So, my 10 year old daughter, in the pursuit of natural gas, has been exposed to 59 ppbv of benzene on 01/17/2010, 120 ppbv of benzene on 02/03/2010, and what she has to look forward to is perhaps 11 ppbv in the next two years when there was ZERO before Aruba Petroleum arrived.

I hope you sleep better at night pretending that the Holocaust is not occuring on your own soil. I know I would have 7 months ago before all of this started near our home.

I also would not have believed that our state agencies would turn a blind eye to numerous spills, igniting methane seep bubbles, and numerous other infractions.

[Jand Doe]

Comparing the Holocaust to natural gas drilling. Shows your intelligence. Why don't you pay those terrible gas companies back the money you conned out of them why you were promoting the leasing in your neighborhood!!!

[Jand Doe]

Very offended that some idiot who actually headed up the gas leasing task force would compare the holocaust to natural gas drilling. All you want is publicity and everyone knows you are a fake!

[Tim Ruggiero]

Like true apologists, the gas industry promters are quick to discount any tests, findings or issues and are just as quick to offer an alternative 'possibility' to the event in question. You'll notice they never have a specific alternative, just simply expressing the statement 'It could be from another source'. TCEQ's Tony Walker discounted the radioactive water in Chico as "It could be from another source." As if NORM just naturally pops to to the surface. Oil and produced water found in the backyard was discounted by TRRC's Walter Gywn as coming from the owner's swimming pool-possible only if you believe water runs uphill from the pool to the drill site. Shell spokesman last month discounted an entire neighborhood of homes out in CA saturated in oil and methane gas as possbily being from people "spilling gasoline while filling their lawnmowers or tinkering with their cars", although no consideration was given that the homnes were built on top of a 1920's oil storage ground facility. Do you really have to be smarter than a 5th grader to figure these things out?

[Louis McBee]

Well, first the film shows several flaming faucets, not just one.....and in every single case the property owners wells were just fine prior to drilling. In the cases where the wells were required to be plugged down to the fracking, the natural gas inclusion...stopped. I do wonder though just how many that support the "drill baby drill" insanity also believe that the Holocaust never happened because THEY didn't witness it?