The movie’s premise is simple: a Susquehanna County mom, concerned about the dangers of hydraulic fracturing, goes on a cross-country journey to determine whether the warnings raised by Josh Fox’s “Gasland” are legitimate.
Except…it’s a bit more complicated than that. During a Harrisburg screening of “Truthland,” star Shelly Depue admitted she was approached by the energy industry – and not the other way around – to produce the film. They booked the interviews she conducted, and set the agenda. And while Depue wasn’t paid for her participation, the Independent Petroleum Association of Pennsylvania and Energy In Depth picked up her travel tab.
The energy industry is aggressively marketing the 34-minute movie this summer, scheduling screenings and panel discussions across Pennsylvania. And while “Truthland” is getting negative production reviews – the Patriot News’ Donald Gilliland called it a mix of bad art and corporate messaging – several of the facts it highlights are well-established:
- Methane migration has been a problem in northeastern Pennsylvania for decades, and isn’t always directly tied to natural gas drilling. (That’s certainly not to say it’s never tied to drilling. The Department of Environmental Protection says faulty well casing caused Dimock’s well-documented migration problems, and DEP is currently probing the role nearby drilling played in a 30-foot Tioga County methane geyser.)
- There’s yet to be a case where hydraulic fracturing fluid conclusively contaminated drinking water. (The Environmental Protection Agency thinks fracking may have led to groundwater contamination in Wyoming, but that investigation is…complicated.)
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What is wrong with Truthland?
The gas industry and Energy in Depth’s reason for making this movie is to debunk what it says are false claims made by Josh Fox in the Oscar nominated film “Gasland”, that taps can’t be lit on fire because of gas drilling causing methane migration, because the methane has always been there. No one is denying that there is naturally occurring methane in Pennsylvania and other parts of the country. The industry itself does not deny that drilling causes methane migration into aquifers, just Energy in Depth, the lobby group who produced the movie. I personally have videotaped a tap lighting on fire because of drilling in a woman’s backyard with newspaper reporters standing right next to me in this video. http://youtu.be/4LBjSXWQRV8
The whole premise of this video is that Shelly DePue watched “Gasland” with her family and decided to go across country to look for the truth. This is made up. She admits this at 8:10 in this video. http://youtu.be/jUfjWxpxORY The gas industry found her through a land owners group and asked her to be in the video, not how it is portrayed in the film. Nothing like accusing someone of making stuff up by making stuff up. It negates the whole point.
The second glaring problem is that the woman in the video goes around the country talking to experts that tell her that the well casings in gas drilling are safe and do not leak. What is not mentioned in the video is that after filming, one of the 10 wells on her property was found leaking and bubbling methane. Here is the link to the Inspection Report on that well. http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4345401762886.2178381.1522786448&type=3&l=02a7b68d57
The third problem is that in the family makes a list of questions for Shelly to ask the experts including: “Do the gas companies follow the rules?” Apparently not. There was a 10 barrel oil based mud spill at the families well pad that WPX did not report. http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4345401762886.2178381.1522786448&type=3&l=02a7b68d57
The forth issue is that Dr. Engleder implies that dish detergent is the only other substance in frack fluid besides water. Hmmm. Then says Josh’s Gasland is full of innuendo. Hmmm. I don’t recall hydrochloric acid in my dish detergent. See link http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2012/07/05/4700-gallons-of-acid-spill-at-bradford-county-drilling-site/
He goes on to imply there has never been any problems with wells drilled in the last 50 years. What about all the abandoned and old wells in PA I see on YouTube with the bubbling methane? http://www.youtube.com/user/GeoguyNEPA/videos
Also, the company WXP Energy, who drilled the well, is being sued by a neighbor for possible water contamination. An investigation is under way. Here is a video about the neighbors. http://youtu.be/iPM64kseP30