July 7, 2010

  • Gasland

    I don't know if any of you have HBO, but there is a very interesting and scary documentary that has been airing this past month called Gasland. I could give you a half ass description of the movie, but I feel this little blurb I stole from the movie's website does it better:

    "The largest domestic natural gas drilling boom in history has swept across the United States. The Halliburton-developed drilling technology of "fracking" or hydraulic fracturing has unlocked a "Saudia Arabia of natural gas" just beneath us. But is fracking safe? When filmmaker Josh Fox is asked to lease his land for drilling, he embarks on a cross-country odyssey uncovering a trail of secrets, lies and contamination. A recently drilled nearby Pennsylvania town reports that residents are able to light their drinking water on fire. This is just one of the many absurd and astonishing revelations of a new country called GASLAND. Part verite travelogue, part expose, part mystery, part bluegrass banjo meltdown, part showdown."

    GASLAND will be broadcast on HBO through 2012.

    http://www.gaslandthemovie.com/

    This fracking is something that is currently being done in I believe something like 39 states, including my own, Illinois, although it is further down south from where I live. Because of the way they are getting the natural gas, it is contaminating the water supply in these areas. And you don't need a PHD to know that drinking water contaminated with natural gas is not good for a person.

    Like many documentaries I'm sure this one is slanted and biased and probably takes quite a few liberties with the truth. Whenever I watch a documentary I watch with the thought that some of it might not be true. 10 years ago though, I worked for a company that did government research on how a military base in North Carolina was contaminated from 1968-1986 with chemicals used in dry cleaning. Part of my job was to find the Marines that lived on this base at this time and interview them over the phone about their children born on the base at that time to find out if they had any birth defects or childhood cancers as a result. As you might expect, I came across a lot of sad stories and emotional parents, as in many cases, they did know about the contamination until we contacted them. I worked on this study for about a year and ever since then I've drank bottled water.

    Watching the documentary reminded me a lot of that other contamination in NC. I was angered and disappointed that this sort of thing is allowed to happen in the United States; we seem to think that this is something that only happens in third world countries. I'd like to think that the American government would do something to stop this from continuing since its being made public, but I know better; the reality is that these companies own way too many politicians in D.C. to enact any viable change.

Comments (2)

  • The contamination of water reminds me of the Erin Brokovitch story.  Have you seen that movie?  Very very sad.  What kind of bottled water do you drink?  Most of it is just "purified water" if you look on the bottle.  So it could be coming from contaminated water and you don't even know it.  I'm sure some of them come from springs, they're just harder to find...not to mention more expensive.

  • Our company did some research on the Erin Brockovitch story as well but I didn't work on that project. I drink all sorts of different bottled waters, I'm not hooked on any one brand. I have heard that bottled waters are in some cases just tap water, or even "purified" water and I guess there is no way to truly know for sure what you are drinking, but I guess if nothing else, the bottled water is sort of a false piece of mind.

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