AFFIRMING GASLAND
Dear audience, press, and peers:
I have been overwhelmed by the amazing, positive responses to the film. From the incredible reviews, the great HBO ratings, the effusive and impassioned response to our website and Facebook page, the powerful responses of the news media and the thousands of audience members at sold-out community screenings, I am humbled that Gasland has been so well received and is helping to bring the crisis of gas drilling in the USA to greater attention.
Even before its release, the significance of the film was not lost on the gas industry. In the March 24th edition of the Oil and Gas Journal, Skip Horvath, the president of the Natural Gas Supply Association said that Gasland is "well done. It holds people's attention. And it could block our industry."
Although I am thoroughly dismayed and disappointed in the recent attacks on the veracity of Gasland and on my credibility as a filmmaker and journalist by Energy-In- Depth and other gas-industry groups, I can't say that I am surprised.
When I was investigating gas drilling across the United States, I heard time after time from citizens that the industry disputed the citizens' claims of water and air contamination and denied responsibility for their health problems and other problems related to drilling. I now know how the people in my documentary feel, to have the things they know to be true and the questions they are raising so blatantly discounted and smeared. It is truly unfortunate that the gas-drilling industry continues to deny what is so obvious to Americans living in gaslands across the nation instead of taking responsibility for the damage they are causing.
I am issuing the following point-by-point rebuttal of their claims, not because I feel obligated to address what are clearly falsehoods and smear tactics, but to show the depth of the industry's assault on the truth and to point out their obfuscations, misleading spin on information, and attempts to shut down questions about their practices. We will be continuing to do the work necessary to have the film seen as much as possible and to offer the Gasland team's expertise as we move forward. First, to reveal the accusers: Energy-In-Depth (E-I-D) is a PR firm/lobbying group funded by the American Petroleum Institute. It is a source of neither journalistic integrity nor educated opinion. There are no authors named on the document "Debunking GasLand," but you can learn a bit about who they are here.
We wish both E-I-D and the gas industry as a whole would behave differently towards people living in gaslands across the globe. We urge them to see the problems that they are causing and move swiftly to correct them — and if they cannot, to cease the practice of hydraulic fracturing immediately.
Please download our responses below to their claims. I hope that you, too, continue to investigate the truth of gas drilling so that you can help us protect water, air, and public health from this unregulated industry.
Thanks in advance for reading this statement. I hope it will be a resource and a jumping- off point for your continued research.
Josh Fox
www.gaslandthemovie.com
