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Gasland
Written and directed by Josh Fox
Natural gas is back in favour in Europe following Japan’s post-tsunami nuclear fallout – and in the US, tapping the country’s deeply buried gas reservoirs is promoted as the way to avoid foreign oil dependence. Modern gas prospecting involves hydraulic fracturing, where millions of litres of chemically treated water are pumped deep into the ground to crack open rocks and let the gas out. And this process has terrible effects on water table purity.
In Gasland, novice doco maker Josh Fox travels around the US countryside to meet locals affected by ‘fracking’ – and discovers undrinkable bore water, sick and dying animals and farmers whose water is so polluted they can light what comes out of the kitchen tap.
There’s also a sense of powerlessness over the freedoms enjoyed by the exploration companies. (At the beginning of George W Bush’s second term, for instance, former vice-president Dick Cheney helped pass legislation exempting the gas companies from the 1970s Clean Water Act). Grim but gripping viewing, Gasland is further evidence – if more was required – of Cheney’s blighted legacy.
A prizewinner at the Sundance Film Festival and the Sarasota International Film Festival.
Find out more about fracking in New Zealand at www.good.net.nz/fracking
Wed January 18, 2012 @ 03:35 PM
