Filmmaker Josh Fox attempts to go to the well once more with Gasland II and tries to derail the natural gas revolution that is taking hold in the United States. Lachlan Markey of the Washington Free Beacon points out some of the more blatant inaccuracies in the film.
Gasland II claim: Water contamination is the result of fracking, not any one of a litany of potential natural causes
Reality: Former EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson: “In no case have we made a definitive determination that the fracking process has caused chemicals to enter groundwater.”
Gasland II claim: One study disproves all the other studies. Relying on a 2011 Cornell study, the film insists, life cycle emissions for power generated from natural gas are two to five times higher than prior studies estimated, due primarily to methane emissions at the site of extraction.
Reality: Other studies from the NYC Mayor’s Office and Department of Energy express skepticism of the claims made by the Cornell report
Gasland II claim: Fracking causes earthquakes
Reality: US Geological Survey: “We find no evidence that fracking is related to the occurrence of earthquakes that people are feeling,” said USGS seismologist Bill Ellsworth after releasing a study on the issue.
Energy in Depth also published a two–part, twenty five page rebuttal to Josh Fox’s second installment writing, “in the case of this film, accuracy is too often pushed aside from simplicity, evidence is sacrificed for exaggeration, and the same old cast of characters and anecdotes- previously debunked- simply lifted from prior incarnations of the film and given a new home in this one.”
What the critics are saying:
“The problem with Gasland is that it is entertainment that actually is ‘science denial’ and thus not fitting as an educational documentary or journalism.”- Daily Kos
“Mr. Fox works in the first-person style of colorful mudslingers like Michael Moore… The film runs to two hours and its anecdotal, hopscotch style starts to wear.”- The New York Times
“Whatever your political sympathies, you can’t ignore the evidence that ‘Gasland’ is pure propaganda, not a documentary.”- Washington Examiner
“‘Gasland Part II’ runs longer than the earlier installment, but ultimately it has less to say.”- Indie Wire