FrackNation

I just finished watching "Fracknation", a documentary film by Irish director Phelim McAleer that purports to be a "journalist's search for the fracking truth". What a blatant piece of propaganda! Very slickly produced, the film was funded through a Kickstarter campaign, which was a very clever ploy to avoid disclosing the filmmakers' obvious love affair with climate change deniers and the oil and gas industry. Far from searching out the truth, this film is a one-sided (and, on the surface, convincing) attempt to debunk the anti-fracking documentary GASLAND and its sequel, Gasland 2.

It does not take long to see where this film is going, as it demonizes Josh Fox (the director of Gasland) and discredits anybody who appeared in that documentary. The film is filled with clever editing, tear-jerking scenes of farmers who claim that gas leases are the key to their survival, interviews with academic scientists who remind you of the types of so-called scientists who would deny that smoking cigarettes causes cancer, and the type of imagery that is a cross between Ronald Reagan's "Morning in America" and the public relations films that came out of the chemical industry back in the 1950s and 1960s.

If you were to believe this film, there is not a single documented case of water contamination or seismic activity associated with fracking. Among other things, the film suggests that: 1) broccoli contains more carcinogens than fracking fluid 2) geothermal wells are the greatest cause of earthquakes 3) the manufacture of solar panels is one of the most toxic processes on the planet.

There is no mention of discharge wells and no mention of the massive volumes of water that are used (and subsequently contaminated) in the fracking process. To the contrary, the film suggests that there are only 3 days when a fracking well represents even the slightest risks, followed by 20, 30 or 40 years of clean energy production, satisfying the world's insatiable love of energy. It even goes as far as to suggest that Vladimir Putin is orchestrating opposition to fracking in Europe and the United States because he does not want to see inexpensive natural gas production interfering with the export profits of Gazprom, the Russian gas giant.

This film is anything but a search for the truth. It is nothing more than slickly packaged bunk disguised as journalism.

Speaking now as a less extreme environmentalist - this director is professional and not scared to confront opponents head-on sometimes reminding me of Michael Moore. He also uncovers a great deal of misinformation.

His "investigation" spans all the way from Western Europe, thru New England, down to Texas and finally to California.

Sorry I did not see this one a long time ago......it helped me to get a clearer understanding of the real issues because it references very reliable and reputable sources and solid scientific data. I could only find one piece of misinformation in the documentary......

For those whose motto is... "My mind is made up so don't try to confuse me with facts"..... do not watch this documentary.... it will just exacerbate your state of confusion!

It quickly becomes pretty clear that this "documentary" is a personal attack on a documentary called Gasland and it's director. Had the "doc" been much better in it's execution and less eager to subvert just one man and his work. Then it could actually have delivered something that could've sparked a debate.

The theme is therefor less about researching fracking, and more about trying to discredit Gasland.

A lot of effort is poured into maintaining that the film was funded on Kickstarter. Actually so much effort go into iterating this, that it begins to become suspect. On top of this, researching superficially on the director "Phelim McAleer" quickly tells the story of a "documentarian" who has worked to support big business.

As for FrackNation as a whole it is a disjointed piece of work that, in its quest to connect human emotion with fracking, keep losing focus throughout. From obviously staged "demonstrations" in Dimock & ridiculous confrontations. To the involuntarily humorous, with it's attacks on renewable energy: "Wind turbines are massive, 24/7, ruthless, bird killing machines" and scenes where fracking becomes the great savior of farms (even though fracking has nothing to do with farming) around the country, purporting that should a farm dissipate it would automatically be replaced by residential buildings which would contribute massive amounts of pollution through traffic and well-digging.

We also have an interview with a biochemist called Bruce Ames on the chemicals used in the fracking process. But instead of explaining the chemicals, the issue is sidestepped and the conclusion just becomes "Scare stories sell newspapers", again taking jabs at Gasland.

It all closes with a corny propagandistic ad for energy, that feels completely disjointed from the rest of the movie. And a monologue that concludes, without any real data, that fracking is completely without problems.

In conclusion. The documentary merits of this film are severely lacking and even though the film-maker behind, goes to great lengths to talk up the "documentary's" independence from the energy industry. You're left with the distinct feeling that even though the film was financed through Kickstarter, the backers are the energy industry who've just made the contributions look like they were donated by a lot of different people.

Now I have to see Gasland. Hopefully that will be much better than this dribble.

Phelim McAleer in "FrackNation" provides a well researched, thorough, entertaining, and scientific rebuttal to the emotional pleas provided in Josh Fox's "GasLand."

Opponents of hydraulic fracturing (aka fracking) would have us believe that the human push-and-pull of fueling civilization versus conserving the biosphere is a left-versus-right or climate change supporter versus denier phenomenon; in fact it is a conflict of science versus emotion. This is the genius of "GasLand": we want to get emotionally angry over a cause. "FrackNation," however, tosses some ice onto those smoldering embers with cold facts.

Nothing is more damaging to the platform of "GasLand" supporters than Fox's multiple refusals to answer pointed questions from McAleer:

McAleer: "Isn't it true that decades before fracking started, that there was methane in the water there?" (regarding the flammable tap water)

Fox: "Can you identify yourself?"

McAleer: "My name is Philem McAleer."

Fox: "Okay, where are you from?"

McAleer: "I'm a journalist."

Fox: "Journalist from where?"

McAleer: "From Ireland."

Fox: "From Ireland?"

McAleer: "Yes. Isn't it true..."

Fox: "You're concerned about the fracking going on in Ireland?"

McAleer: "No, I'm concerned about the accuracy of the documentary."

Fox: "You're a journalist for what paper?"

On the surface, a cause's champion refusing to answer the opposition is unsettling but it goes further; Fox's thinly veiled attempts to impugn the credentials of McAleer--even his nationality--and his absolute refusal to respond to challenges to "GasLand's" documentary authenticity leave the watcher mentally ticking off points in McAleer's column. But there's more.

At another point, Fox repeatedly refuses to engage MacAleer in conversation at an event held at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles. Eventually McAleer and his director are ejected from the event... scientific dialog indeed.

Through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, McAleer obtains video from the US Government's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the largest environmental regulatory body in the world. In this video, the Sautner family--the champions of "GasLand"--were presented with the results of an EPA sampling of their well water, demonstrating that the well water was not contaminated. The Sautners react with emotion: the wife storms out, the husband demanding the results are false, and the EPA representative stating "we found no contaminants."

Scientific and methodical thinking people of the entire political spectrum are forced by this film to consider the evidence of the hydraulic fracturing issue and see the opponents reacting with emotional pleas and the supporters providing clear and well documented science.

--oversoul

INEXCUSABLE of Phelim (sounds like a quaint and olde Irish pronunciation of film) to totally skip the concept of Global Climate changes r/t rising Methane, Carbon Dioxide, and Carbon Monoxide (among others) which could cause catastrophic flooding - even lead to extinction events within a century. Water pollution consequences have been admitted to even by Fracking Industry sources, but Phelim's film keeps reiterating a claim of 'absolutely nothing to see here, all fracking is totally o.k.'!! Same for all of the other mentioned problems like earthquakes, air pollution, land losses, fires, etc. - TOTAL DENIAL! No way, Jose... If Josh Fox is a fraudulent huckster as Phelim would portray him, then it is MOST abundantly clear that Phelim is way worse, and I would venture that he and his adherents are quite dangerously so.