Josh Fox Archives - FinFollower.com

A few weeks ago I reviewed the Josh Fox movie Gasland, and encouraged others to see it as well. It has a very relevant environmental message, regardless of where you live.

As luck would have it, I was visiting the Fishing Jones site last night, when I ran across an 18-minute short that Josh recently made as a follow up. Entitled The Sky Is Pink, it points out that Governor Cuomo is about to make a decision that would allow up to 100,000 natural gas wells to be drilled in New York State.

It also reveals that the natural gas industry is acutely aware of the failure rate of wells: 6% in the first year, and by 30 years 50% have failed. Currently 17% of natural gas wells in the U.S. are leaking toxic chemicals into our groundwater.

To top this off, former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge is now a spokesman for the natural gas industry. And to think I used to respect him . . . .

I’ve embedded a copy of the clip. Enjoy!

This weekend I watch a documentary by Josh Fox entitled Gasland. While the title was amusing to my kids, the content was disturbing and should be of interest to all of us, not just anglers.

The topic of the documentary is hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, a method of extracting natural gas from underground. Over the course of the film Josh visits homeowners in Pennsylvania, Colorado and Wyoming, witnessing firsthand the destruction to ground water as a result of fracking, and the denial of the gas exploration companies and local governments that this is even happening.

In some cases families suffered major health problems due to well contamination. In others, pets and livestock lost hair and weight. In some homes you could actually ignite the drinking water and watch it burn. One well actually exploded.

I won’t give the movie away, but here are just a few of the facts revealed in this documentary:

Ex-vice president Dick Cheney, also ex-CEO of Halliburton, helped pass a 2005 energy bill that exempted oil and gas companies from the Safe Water Drinking Act, Clean Air Act, Superfund legislation and the Clean Water Act, among others
There are 596 chemicals used in the fluid used for fracking, many linked to cancer or other health problems
Each new fracking well uses between one and seven million gallons of water, and a well can be fracked up to 18 times

I hope you’ll spend a few minutes watching this documentary and use it as an opportunity to learn more about this dangerous practice and the short and long-term impact it could have on our lives and our health.

To see the movie trailer click here. It is available from Netflixas well.

To find out more about hydraulic fracturing click here.

Enjoy!