Gasland II and Anti-Energy Extremists

[Valin]

RCP:

Thomas Pyle

July 9, 2013

 

Domestic crude oil production surpassed imports during the week ending May 31, according to an Energy Information Administration *report. Thats a milestone that hasnt been reached in 16 years and underscores the conviction that North American energy security can be realized if we resolve to achieve it.

 

(Snip)

 

Of course, not everyone wants to see the United States lead the world in affordable energy production. Utilizing Hollywood-style theatrics and baseless propaganda, these activists are dead-set on undermining the energy renaissance that is creating American jobs and strengthening our global position. Avant-garde filmmaker Josh Fox, who rose from relative obscurity in 2010 with his movie Gasland, has blamed shale gas drilling for a host of supposed problems from flammable drinking water to environmental disasters. Nevertheless, his accusations have been systematically proven as false. Undeterred, Fox will doubtlessly continue to make similar claims in other projects, including Gasland Part II that will air on **HBO on July 8.

 

(Snip)

 

Anti-energy extremists delude themselves and deceive the public by perpetuating myths about U.S. fossil fuel development. Domestic energy production is leading to a more secure energy future and economic prosperity here at home. To strengthen our economy, benefit our allies and promote our foreign policy goals, the U.S. should be continuing the trend toward total reliance on domestic sources of energy. Listening to naysayers like Josh Fox or following their strategies for anemic domestic energy production presents a threat to peace that should be rejected for what it is: propaganda masked as facts, and geopolitical naiveté disguised as environmental concern.

 

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* I can only assume this is some sort of bad thing.

 

** Darn I missed, I was out killing fuzzy bunnies.

[Valin]

Gasland II: Muddying a Fractured Debate

7/9/13

 

First, a grainy image of a hose on fire; next, a slow shot of verdant, rain-drenched woods. Thats how Josh Foxs documentary film Gasland II opens, and it encapsulates his vision of the two sides of the fracking debate: those who seek to destroy nature, and those who defend it. What follows is more than two hours of disturbing footage of the dangers of fracking.

 

As the title suggests, the film is a sequel, and Fox ominously, smugly narrates that in sequels, the empire strikes back. The empire, in this case, is the oil and gas industry. And in a way, hes right: there is a heated battle going on right now between green and brown energy advocates. Foxs first film fudged its fair share of facts, and brown industry responded with a rebuttal documentary called Truthland. Unsurprisingly, oil and gas companies also missed the mark in some of their counterclaims.

 

Like its predecessor, the new film is an overwrought polemic, but it does raise some legitimate concerns about the dangers of fracking: microquakes, cement casing failures, and groundwater contamination, to name just a few. To the extent that Fox gets people thinking critically about the practice, hes doing some good. But that good is overwhelmingly drowned out by sheer noise.

 

And there is a lot of noise: Gasland II is chock-full of errors and falsehoods. Some might be unintentional (Fox readily admits that hes a theater guy, not an engineer or chemist), but at least one seems to be a case of deceit......(Snip)

 

 

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