Documentary film “Gasland” on "fracking" free showing in the Northwest

by T Mon Jan 09, 2012 20:27

Damning New Letter from NY State Insider: 'Hydraulic Fracturing as It's Practiced Today Will Contaminate Our Aquifers'

A report out on Jan 6th details how a former technician responsible for investigating and managing groundwater contamination for New York State has revealed the true damage that fracking is and will do to the aquifiers in New York state, and likewise to any aquifiers in any other place where fracking is carried out such as proposed in Ireland.

Here's some extracts from the report

A former staffer at a state government agency responsible for regulating hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, has warned that allowing the controversial gas drilling method in New York would lead to contamination of the state's aquifers and would poison its drinking water.

..... In his December 13 letter to the Watertown Daily Times, Hetzler, a former technician responsible for investigating and managing groundwater contamination at the DEC, said: "I'm familiar with the fate and transport of contaminants in fractured media, and let me be clear: hydraulic fracturing as it's practised today will contaminate our aquifers.

"Not might contaminate our aquifers. Hydraulic fracturing will contaminate New York's aquifers. If you were looking for a way to poison the drinking water supply, here in the north-east you couldn't find a more chillingly effective and thorough method of doing so than with hydraulic fracturing."

The publication of Hetzler's letter last month coincided with a report from the US Environmental Protection Agency, which linked fracking with water pollution for the first time.

Hetzler calles the proposals for hydraulic fracturing in New York state "insane", adding: "I'm not saying anywhere you drill will cause a huge catastrophe. There might be a location where geological conditions are favourable, where contaminants don't travel. But the Marcellus shale is not a homogeneous layer. You can't predict what is going to happen."

The full report can be found here:

by wageslave Wed Jan 11, 2012 18:37

Gasland has been removed a few times from youtube but you can still watch it in pieces. Apparently many polish people are very concerned about this happening all over their country too, hence the polish subtitles. Makers of Docmentaries like this should be supported, so go along to an official showing or buy the dvd if you can but if you are unable to do either then I'm sure Josh Fox would not disapprove of people watching it on the internet. After all the reason he made it was to get the message out about this destructive and cynical extraction technique.
I've looked around youtube and collated links so you can watch the whole thing online. Here are links:

part1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cl02_faq1_o
part2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qlvb-2xYahI
part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=komgjc3eakY
part 4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJU3DNPjJHw

you should stop watching part 4 at about 6:45 and begin watching part 5 at that point.

part 5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LuGc5XGTms

glycol ether:
odourless, colourless and its an Interesting point that you can't even filter glycol ether from the water because it eats through the filters.

This is just one component out of hundreds they will be pumping into our aquifers in a toxic brew which will likely contaminate them indefinitely. No inadequate short term payment or temporary employment for a few is worth this. However the investors in these companies don't care about the lasting externalities  they leave behind after they have struck gas, sold on the company and skidaddled with the money to live comfortably somewhere else, no doubt somewhere with clean air and water!

Join the fight to resist fracking in the lough allen basin in Ireland.  FG won't do it for you. They've already sold us out and supplied the licences to prospect for next to nothing. Once the prospectors locate the gas wells, it will be very hard to resist the barrage of propaganda about economic benefits in this climate of economic fear, and no doubt the pressure from EU financiers on behalf of the corporations involved.

by opus diablos - the regressive hypocrite party Thu Jan 12, 2012 10:31

Clare County Council has voted to ban the method. Also (Clare FM Radio)seems the best local(or national for that matter) early morning(post 9am)topical coverage of issues in an adult fashion.