Gasland Part II

source: Gasland Part II

The saying, "Power Corrupts And Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely" is/was coined to denote the world of Politicians, Politics, Corporations and Institutions! The man who made this exact, precise and totally correct quote was the Historian, Lord Actons. He quoted/stated/warned that power tended to corrupt, and that absolute power corrupted absolutely. He applied this particular statement to individuals, institutions, and governments, way back in 1887, but it is as relevant today as it was on the day he said it! Much of politics is riddled with corruption from individuals who receive/gain power (from a countries inhabitants who make the same errors repeatedly, over and over again by electing wealthy, egotistical and greedy candidates). People who have absolutely no interest in the peoples wants or needs and have sought status as a politician so they can act upon their own selfish greed for personal gain; they ignore all individuals that they are supposed to be helping! Josh Fox does a very good job of getting that across in this, his 2nd documentary about GASLAND, film. The bad part of his exposé is the terrible camera work that is wobbly, shaky and darting about all over the place throughout the documentary; its little things that are just as annoying as politicians 😄. I usually find that when you have a certain type of negative reviews (such as those made here) , they are either from people who are totally ignorant of understanding the the seriousness of a hazardous problem, or they, and perhaps family members, have some kind of vested interest; financially or job related! I lived for a short time in America (had a great time too) and a major thing I noticed was that the majority of Americans are seriously/totally ignorant/unknowing of places and events in/on their own planet. They are all about our America is the best etc, and just ignore everything happening around, and outside, of their shallow existences. Others I met who had minds that thought about the world beyond 'Yankee Doodles' shores, were extremely knowledgeable about their own country's misgivings; and those of the worlds too! The corruption exposed here is so blatant by crooked companies and political officials, from Governors and their lackey's, all the way to the White-house and the Senate! The breakdown of US society has been extremely evident for a number of years and it will eventually erupt into serious rioting and violence. Fracking will be a big cause of it (in a follow on time of massive deteriorating health factors to millions of citizens). But of course, the huge problems will stem from the ever increasing gap between the extremely poor and the extremely wealthy!

Fracking does seem to have a lot going against it, suspicious sounding energy firms with undisclosed toxic mixes pumped into the earth at rock busting pressures, landscapes littered with the mechanical detritus of the process, ugly scarred lands and scared people. Josh Fox certainly saw an issue that would would project his directing career far across this land and abroad causing the wringing of hands by many who take more than just a passing interest in the well being of our planet. People just like myself. And in the second film he of course steps up his attacks on the industry and his own critics. Except for one, or I should say two film makers Phelim McAleer and Ann McElhinney whom Josh seems to wish would be swallowed by the void. Their film FrackNation examines in detail the Gasland mythos and shows just how much Josh is willing to do to cover up his fictions whilst a gullible public far from the actual fray and enjoying the benefits of the fossil fuels they guzzle daily are taken in yet again by the distortion of fact and science. If nothing else just consider that if fracking were discontinued and everyone switched to solar panels where would all the rare earths come from needed for their manufacture? Have you ever seen the size of the open pit mines extracting these rare minerals or the paltry amount that is extracted from all the earth and rocks removed by juggernaut earthmoving machines? Not to mention the pollution caused by the processing. If you have watched the Gaslands movies you really owe it to yourself to also see Fracknation. Then you can decide for yourself. You'll see how false and evasive Josh is when confronted by the film makers who, being fair minded, wanted nothing more than to speak with Josh. You will see the family with the exploding faucets also revealed as simple minded hucksters so taken in by Josh and his crew they are prepared to lie to the EPA. I have given the film two stars because, in fairness it is a very well put together documentary but it is also an illustration of how easy it is to gain fame and attention if you are prepared to play to the publics worst fears.

The follow up to Gasland is more of the same type of coverage : people in two or three small areas of the country being filmed as they explain how their water supply has been polluted by harmful chemicals used by the fracking ( getting natural gas out of shale by use of high pressure ) wells on or near their land. I got lost in the mineral rights/payments to land owners to drill wells on their land business but it became clear that some property owners have had their water supply made unuseable by the fracking industry. The problem is that a one inch barrier of cement in the wells is all that prevents harmful chemicals from entering underground steams and water basins and this barrier is insufficient for the job. As time passes more and more active wells will contaminate the world's water supplies. I did note that the number of homeowners who complained of undrinkable water was pretty small in relation to the huge number of wells already on line by 2013. Another point of confusion was an EPA report that listed massive contaminants in peoples' water yet the agency released the information that the water was safe to drink. A number of homeowners took an offer from a fracking company that, according to the piece gave them twice the value of their property if they left and remained silent forevermore. That seemed unduly generous. The doc did not supply any information about the expected length of time this type of well would remain active so one cannot really access long term pollutant damage but it was crystal that politicians at all levels of government side heavily with the frackers which certainly corresponds to the idea that business controls government.

What Gas Companies do the last to reviewers work for? LOL suppose he made up the bleeding noses and fracking gas material in peoples lungs too! Doesn't matter what the facts are to some people I go know for a fact it's unnatural destruction of the environment for corporate profit Good movie worth a watch. What facts do the previous reviewers that hated it have that it's all propaganda and lies. Glad I don't live near one of those shales anymore. But of course the industry isn't causing any of that right A must watch film

It's us. The people. Jobs. Security. Television. Private property. Yale. West Point. Wal Mart. CNN. A new truck. A roasted turkey. Everyone of the complaining parties in the land "Gasland" portraits seems to own a pickup truck. I saw only big trucks. New trucks. Bought with the money the gas and oil corporations paid them for their land to be fracked. Then the chemicals started leaking. Water ruined. The big wake-up. Too late. Money already pocketed, truck bought, TV bought, disclosure agreement signed. Too late. Truck drivers don't care. We don't care until our own water supply is being taken from us. I genuinely do appreciate this documentary. It does not only expose the irreparable damage caused by fracking, but it exposes (perhaps without being aware of it) how it is happening. What Homeland America made of? It shows who is fracking who. Corporations only pocked the profit. The 1% doesn't drive hundreds of thousands of trucks. The 1% doesn't drill and operate hundreds of thousands of wells. They pay off our government the same way they pay off us. Disclosure agreement signed. Vietnam veterans. Iraq veterans. Afghanistan veterans. War criminals in my eyes. Or perhaps 'only' the truck drivers of war criminals 'protecting' the Homeland by destroying other peoples home land continents away. Where is Iraq again? Afghanistan? Is there perhaps oil to be drilled or pipelines to be build in these far away foreign home lands? Let's get them some freedom. Let's get them some truckloads of freedom. Bombs first. Then American Sniper. Then American Halliburton. It's also red. Like Coca Cola. And blood. Blood and stripes. American war veterans are now being the victims of the corporations they helped so successfully to grow in power. America is fracking itself. Go and watch American Sniper. Support war. Don't care about Iraqi citizens. They are all terrorists. They are not citizens anymore. They don't have a country anymore. It has been fracked away from them. It's been drilled apart by Halliburton. You were driving the tanks and the trucks then. You are still driving the trucks now, in your backyard. How many wells across the US? How many truckloads needed for one well? How many truck drivers? Who cares about your water? There is no Corporate America. There is no Halliburton. There is only us working for them. To have a job. A new big Ford F250. A TV in the kitchen, to watch the 'news' while we roast our turkeys. Two cars. Three cars. Thank you very much. On another note, how many ethnic, African American, Native Indian, Asian American, Latino American land owners did we meet in this film? None. The only African American we encounter in this portrait of America are one child and one President. Also, once we ruined all our drinking water what do we think will happen next? The price for drinking water will sky rocket. And guess who will own the only clean drinking water wells then? I've got a good feeling about it. Thank you very much.

In Gasland II, Director and journalist Joshua Fox states in his laconic NPR-style narration that as with most sequels, the empire does strike back. This is most certainly the case in this highly entertaining no-punches-pulled sequel to Fox's Oscar-nominated documentary Gasland as we watch corporations crush dissenters and watch, even, as Fox gets arrested in Congress for trying to cover a public hearing on fracking. In Gasland II, Fox continues the story of hydraulic fracturing or "fracking" and its impact on lives. Unlike in Gasland which was more of an expose, in Gasland II, Fox takes time to explore the global trends that perpetuate the massive rush to frack America, namely the worldwide demand for natural gas. He concludes that it is not merely a desire to free America from dependence on foreign energy that is motivating the multi-trillion dollar oil and gas industry to destroy America's groundwater system, but the lure of foreign sales. In Gasland II, Fox also explores the corruption in America's political system reaching all the way up to President Obama in painting a very sobering picture of what the future of fracking holds for all of us.

So I watched this film today on HBO and I have to say I was very moved. The stories that these Americans (who could have been our neighbors, our friends or our family) shared were stunning. The tales burrowed their way into my mind and heart much like the natural gas companies had done in these peoples backyards with or without permission and without a shred of compassion or care of their safety and our Constitutional rights. I had seen Mr. Fox's first film and thought it was very good but this one was even better. It showed that none of us are safe from greed, and that our government protection was for sale and apparently sold to the highest bidder long ago. This film does not paint a pretty picture for what is in our future and that was not the point, there won't be a Hollywood ending for us because this is real life and unlike the lies that are ever present from the evil that has fractured us to core as a country this film is telling (through the word of it's own flesh and blood people) the truth and that is always refreshing and timeless. This film may not change the world, it may not change your mind but it sure as heck should make you think. It made me think that maybe we're not living in America anymore and it made me wonder if we can ever really be worth saving as human beings. Yeah I know that's kinda dark but it's the truth and sometimes it ain't all peaches and cream.

If you are a fan of HBO's notorious left leaning "documentaries" then this one will not disappoint you. If you have your own brain and can think independently and do a little of your own research you will find this documentary to be worthless. "What I didn't know was that the 2005 energy bill pushed through Congress by Dick Cheney exempts the oil and natural gas industries from the Safe Drinking Water Act. They were also exempt from the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Superfund law, and about a dozen other environmental and Democratic regulations." Dick Cheney didn't do any harm to the Federal Clean Air Act because there is no "Halliburton Loophole" statutory law amendment of the Clean Air Act contained in the Energy Policy Act of 2005; you can read it for yourself. I can tell you with 100% certainty that the Federal Clean Air Act has never been amended to incorporate a categorical oil and gas industry exemption from the fundamental jurisdictional requirements of the Act. Josh Fox's claim that the oil and gas industry has some sort of categorical exemption from regulation and that hydraulic fracturing and other oil and gas industry process equipment and facilities are exempted from regulation under the Federal Clean Air Act is fabrication and erroneous conflation. The Federal Clean Air Act affords U.S. EPA full jurisdiction over emissions from the oil and gas industry. This statutory jurisdiction takes place both directly and through the states through development of federally approved and federally enforceable state implementation plans under Section 110 of the Clean Air Act. Also, contrary to Gasland claims, there is no exemption contained in the Federal Clean Water Act either that is a categorical exemption of the oil and gas industry from jurisdiction under the Act for hydraulic fracturing process wastewater.....another Gasland falsehood. I could go on but what's the point? Get you news from Bill Maher and never read anything of fact then make your own documentary about how G.W. Bush is causing the continuous failure of the Obama administration.

Firstly watch the award winning documentary "Fracknation" which blew apart the many falsehoods in "Gasland." The complete nonsense and lies in Gasland were so exposed that the maker had to make this new version "Gasland II" which drops some of the lies in the original but then adds others. It is a stone cold and well documented FACT that people in areas where there are gas and oil deposits have been seeing fires in faucets since the 1700's. This has been happening with well water in Colorado, NY, or Pennsylvania before there was any oil or gas drilling of any kind in the USA. Fires occurred in bucket based wells, and when pump faucets were added to water wells in the 1700's people saw fired ignite in those faucets. To use this image as a criticism of fracking is complete BS. Gasland II is almost as bad as Matt Damon's "Promised Land" whihc it turns out was almost fully funded by....The United Arab Emirates" which of course wants the US and Europe to be dependent on natural gas from the Middle East. (Think that is a hoax clam? Google "Promised Land" and "UAE" and find the NYTimes and USA Today articles investigating exposing the shell companies that turn out to be behind Matt Damon's production. Take a read of The Guardian's articl:e "Russia 'secretly working with environmentalists to oppose fracking." Or the Washington Post "Russian trolls sought to inflame debate over climate change, fracking and Dakota pipeline" which show the Russians have spent tens of millions pushing the anti fracking meme and working with gasbags who oppose fracking and are doing Putins work for him.