ICYMI: Toughest Questions on Veracity of GasLand Come from Daily Show’s Jon Stewart
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-june-21-2010/josh-fox
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (June 21, 2010)
Stewart: “The industry itself has put out, they put out, literally, to debunk your film, it’s from Energy In Depth – EnergyInDepth.org. It says when you say there’s 596 chemicals, they say 12. … They say that fracturing was never under … [cut off by Fox].”
- Report: “Although the hydraulic fracturing industry may have a number of compounds that can be used in a hydraulic fracturing fluid, any single fracturing job would only use a few of the available additives [not 596!]. For example, in [this exhibit], there are 12 additives used, covering the range of possible functions that could be built into a fracturing fluid.” (page 62, report from U.S. Dept. of Energy / Ground Water Protection Council)
Stewart: “They say they were never under those auspices. They say in this document that they were never under the Safe Drinking Water Act – that they were always regulated by the states, and that the states have very strict regulations.”
- Fmr. EPA administrator (and current White House advisor) Carol Browner: EPA does not regulate – and does not believe it is legally required to regulate – the hydraulic fracturing of methane gas production wells under its [Safe Drinking Water Act] UIC program.” (letter, May 5, 1995)
http://mediacenter.tveyes.com/MediaCenter/39625/486371.5222/CNN_06-18-2010_10.34.28.wmv
CNN: America’s Newsroom (June 18, 2010)
- Energy In Depth: “Fundamentally, we’re talking about a process in hydraulic fracturing that’s been used now for 60 years. It’s been in commercial service for 60 years. It’s not new. It’s not unregulated. It’s not exotic…And as recently as a couple months ago, when the U.S. Senate Committee asked top administrators over at EPA if they could identify a single case of groundwater contamination associated with hydraulic fracturing, the answer was: Not one.”
- EID: “The interesting thing is that the gentleman that was in the film — in fact, being show right now with the flammable faucet — he’s from Colorado, and the regulators went out to that well, did their surveys of it, did their research, collected data and came forward with a conclusion that that natural gas was … naturally occurring. That report was widely known, and it was available before the movie came out. And I think if the director was looking to give an even-handed account of what was actually happening, the reality of the situation wasn’t reflected in that film.”
- Cont’d: “Hydraulic fracturing has been aggressively regulated for years on the state level. It was never covered under the Safe Water Drinking Act — Josh was misstating the facts on that one as well.”
http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/23979885/detail.html
WTAE-TV – Pittsburgh (June 21, 2010)
- EID: “Chris Tucker … said ‘Gasland’ director Josh Fox ignored a scientific report that showed the gas in the water in the Colorado example was naturally occurring and had nothing to do with drilling. ‘The film director has that report. He had access to the report before he went there, but obviously that doesn’t make for as good a story, and so he decided to exclude that,’ Tucker said.”
- Reporter links to EID’s materials: “An industry group called Energy In Depth gave Team 4 the following web links as a rebuttal to claims made in the ‘GasLand’ movie: Debunking GasLand // GasLand Debunked (PDF)”
Potential Hydraulic Fracturing Legislation Now Has a Sponsor
Rumors are circling around Washington that an amendment seeking to give EPA authority over the regulation of hydraulic fracturing will soon be added to massive climate change legislation sponsored by Congressman Henry Waxman of California and Ed Markey of Massachusetts. It appears the amendment’s author will be Congresswoman Diana DeGette of Colorado, who sponsored similar legislation in the last Congress (H.R. 7231).
The Colorado Independent reports:
U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette is leading the charge to increase federal oversight of the nation’s natural gas industry, reintroducing a bill that specifically targets a process called hydraulic fracturing.
DeGette and hydraulic fracturing detractors claim the practice harms the environment and is damaging to public health. But Energy in Depth readers (and the EPA) know that’s not the case-and that states already effectively regulate hydraulic fracturing.
The fluids used in the process are more than 95 percent water, and fracturing activities take place thousands of feet below the water table. What’s more, extensive precautions are taken to case wells near the surface to prevent any leakage of fracturing fluid, oil or natural gas.
And while the Independent refers to highlighting the economic consequences of eliminating this safe engineering practice as an industry “tactic,” we’re sure the hundreds of thousands of Americans whose jobs rely on hydraulic fracturing might think differently.
Here are the facts:
- Hydraulic fracturing is responsible for 30 percent of our domestic recoverable oil and natural gas, and has aided in the extraction of more than seven billion barrels of oil and 600 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
- Up to 90 percent of the wells currently operating today have been fraced, and in the future, 60 to 80 percent of new wells may have to undergo fracturing in order to remain viable.
- In 2007, $226 billion was invested in domestic exploration and production. Those investments drive economic growth, support local businesses and keep Americans working. Royalties paid by producers totaled $30 billion in 2007, and billions were paid to federal and local governments in the form of severance and income taxes.
- Hydraulic fracturing accounts for a significant portion of the total economic activity attributable to domestic energy production. More than 300,000 Americans are employed in the exploration and production of domestic oil and natural gas.
What’s more, regulating hydraulic fracturing out of existence would have disastrous economic consequences, including the loss of thousands of jobs, billions in government revenue and the closure of 150,000 natural gas wells.
America can’t afford to unnecessarily curb domestic energy production and destroy jobs-and the DeGette amendment would do just that.
