February 7, 2011 -- With the recent Oscar nomination of
my documentary film GASLAND, Big Gas and their PR attack
machine hit a new low in its blatant disregard for the
truth.
In an unprecedented move,
an oil and gas industry front group sent a letter to the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences saying that
the film should be ineligible for best documentary
feature.
We are honored and
encouraged by the Academy’s nomination. It is terrific
to be acknowledged as filmmakers by the film world’s
most prestigious honor. But perhaps more than that, I
believe that the nomination has provided hope,
inspiration and affirmation for the thousands of
families out there who are suffering because of the
natural gas drilling. The Oscars are about dreams, and
I know that for all of us living with the nightmare of
gas drilling the nomination provides further proof that
someone out there cares.
Now Big Gas wants to take
that away, as they have shattered the American dream for
so many.
GASLAND exposes the
disaster being caused across the U.S. by the largest
domestic natural gas drilling campaign history and how
the contentious Halliburton-developed drilling
technology called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking threatens
the water supply of millions.
Fracking is a whole-scale
industrialization process that pumps millions of gallons
of toxic material directly into the ground. Thousands of
documented contamination cases show the harmful
chemicals used have been turning up in people's water
supplies in fracking areas all over the map.
We stand behind the testimonials,
facts, science and investigative journalism in the film
100 percent. We have issued a point-by-point rebuttal
of the group’s claims (“Affirming Gasland”), posted on
our website.
It’s not just us they’re
after. The gas industry goes after anyone who tries to
punch a hole in their lie. Last week the same
pro-drilling group, Energy in Depth (EID), attacked an
investigative piece on drilling pollution by ProPublica,
the highly credible public interest journalism
organization.
And just last week, T.
Boone Pickens, the most visible promoter of gas fracking,
went on The Daily Show claiming that he personally has
fracked over 3,000 wells and never witnessed any
contamination cases, even when Jon Stewart asked him
about GASLAND point blank. He simply stated over and
over again the industry lie, that fracking is safe. Not
a single word of acknowledgement, or responsibility for
the claims of thousands and the threat posed to
millions.
The gas industry believes
it can create a new reality in which their nationwide
onshore drilling campaign isn’t a disaster. But no
amount of PR money or slick ads can keep the stories of
contamination coming from thousands of Americans from
being any less true.
On Monday, Congressional
investigators called out frackers for pumping millions
of gallons of diesel fuel directly into the ground,
exposing drinking water sources to benzene and other
carcinogens. This makes EID’s specious and misleading
attack on the science and data in GASLAND especially
ironic since Halliburton stonewalled Congressman Henry
Waxman’s investigation into fracking, refusing to
provide data on their use of diesel and other harmful
chemicals injected in the fracking process.
There are major watershed
areas providing water to millions of Americans that are
at risk here, including the watershed areas for New York
City and Philadelphia. The catastrophe has been widely
covered not only in GASLAND, but also by hundreds of
news stories, films and TV segments. This is a moment of
crisis that cannot be understated.
Even before its release,
the power of the film was not lost on the industry. In
the March 24th edition of the Oil and Gas Journal, Skip
Horvath, the president of the Natural Gas Supply
Association said that GASLAND is “well done. It holds
people’s attention. And it could block our industry.”
GASLAND was seen by
millions and I personally toured with the film to over
100 cities. In affected areas, people came to the
screenings with their contaminated water samples in tow.
They came to have the truth they know shared and
confirmed.
As Maurice D. Hinchey,
U.S. Representative (NY-22) recently said, “Thanks to
GASLAND and the millions of grassroots activists across
the country, we finally have a counterweight to the
influence of the oil and gas industry in our nation's
capital."
Big Gas is blocking the
truth in their pursuit of hundreds of billions of
dollars of profit. Their clear goal is to ensure our
nation remains addicted to fossil fuels for the rest of
this century. They seek to stifle the development of
truly renewable energy.
They’re playing dirty in
more ways than one, attacking the film and the
testimonials and science in it instead of taking
responsibility and addressing the contamination,
destruction and harm that they are creating. I now know
how the people in my documentary feel, to have the
things they know to be true and the questions they are
raising so blatantly discounted and smeared. It is truly
unfortunate that the gas-drilling industry continues to
deny what is so obvious to Americans living in gaslands
across the nation.
Josh Fox
Director, GASLAND
Media Contact: Josh Baran –
jcbaran@gmail.com –
917-797-1799
Josh Fox is based in New
York City and will be in Washington, D.C. on February
17. He is available for interviews. DVD screeners for
the media are available.
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