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Billy Glad blogs about film at Annals of the Hive
GasLand (2010) – The Dick Cheney Legacy |
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| By: Billy Glad Saturday February 5, 2011 8:23 am | |
GasLand (2010) – The Dick Cheney Legacy |
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| By: Billy Glad Saturday February 5, 2011 8:23 am | |
Billy Glad blogs about film at Annals of the Hive
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32 Comments
T. Boone Pickens was recently on The Daily Show and was in total denial. Stewart barely even trid to pin him on this even though Josh Fox has also been on his show recently and they showed almost the exact same clip as here. Not sure why Stewart let him off the hook but I can always guess.
It’s a thorny issue, because Pickens is plugging a way to break “our dependence on foreign oil” with all that implies for nationalists and internationalists alike. Then here comes Josh Fox, backed by people like Robert Redford and Debra Winger and coming on like Erin Brockovitch or Jan Schlichtmann. You can almost hear Pickens’ mama hollering at him: “Boone! You get down from there before you fall!”
Recommended.
I appreciate that, mzchief. Especially from someone who recommends Solaris and Silent Running.
Please let me admit straightaway that I am bereft of much hope today. The bad guys are simply winning on too many fronts, and my occasional/natural buoyancy has sprung a serious leak for a variety of reasons.
I appreciate that you call Pickens’ projects a ‘thorny issue’. I will say the same about biofuels and their part in a comprehensive plan to wean ourselves from oil.
I do know that had we listened to Carter long ago we wouldn;’t be where we find ourselves now over energy demands and fossil fuels; it was so much fun to laugh at him and his warnings.
We have systematically allowed ourselves to be scmoozed by the oil lobby, MICC-oil complex that we have never taken conservation seriously. Not limiting house square footage, not standards of R-values in new homes, not even in tax breaks for solar applications or wind generation. Only recent citizzen actions demanding that electrical cooperatives find certain percentages of power generation from gereen sources has made a dent in fossil fuel dependence. (I think.)
The county next door has had its underground water killed by fracking; yep, faucet water can be lit on fire, and downstream there are major problems cropping up. Lawsuits are ubiquitous, and will be years in court. Those energy comapnies have enogh $$ to draw them out forever.
Same county has poisoned rivers, especially the Animas, and plenty of birth defect increases rom an enormous uranium tailings pile that has been ‘stabilized’ according to Interior. Fantastic. It’s so warm that snow doesn’t stick.
Western Slope of Colorado is rich with oil shale, for which there is no known practical extraction, but that hasn’t stopped the energy companies from filing on every bit of available (and sometimes NOT) water in advance of starting production to heat and squeeze oil out of rock. Brilliant. Reminiscent of tar sands in Canada, which production and toxic waste is killing many species of wildlife and especially birds. No none cares.
So every administration including this one will speak of clean natural gas, clean coal, nuclear power, la la la. And no one will say ‘consume less power’ because, like Carter urging us to turn down our thermostats and wear some d=goddam sweaters, we laugh. Because we are Americans, and deserve more of everything, especially convenience.
Wish I could see the film, but I am (to paraphrase bob dylan) ‘stuck in Webber Canyon with the Mancos blues again.’ ;o)
Think I might need a hot bath and spititual rejevenation? Me, too. Here I go.
Thanks for telling us about the film, Billy Glad.
Great review. I’m happy to even see it’s in the running. Hope it wins.
Thanks for getting the subject back to the film, kgb. My rant was a thread-killer. Sorry, Billy.
Wendy,
Sounds like you live in Colo. If so, I’m curious what county had its under ground water killed? I live over here in Colo Spgs – that ultra “Red” county (though its “bluer” than many people realize). BTW, if you have a Netflix account Gasland is available there. Might be available too as a streaming video if you are into that kind of thing.
Alas, I share your pessimism about too many wins by the “bad guys” though perhaps there is a glimmer of hope. The recent unrest in the middle east has many causes. Its not quite as simple as we see in the the evening news talking head pronouncements. Perhaps one of the causes: a well educated repressed lower/middle class is revolting againset a small power elite cabal. Makes me wonder if a populist global conflageration of have-not masses against the moneyed class bent on destroying our planet is about to ignite. Guess we’ll see.
I couldn’t find GasLand streaming anywhere, so I ended up getting the dvd from Netflix. Some of these films are hard to find if you don’t live in the right place. I’ve been trying without luck to get some kind of review copy of Waste Land and Inside Job, both scheduled for release on dvd after the Academy Awards.
Luckily, most documentaries don’t have to be seen on the big screen. Of course, the global populist uprising of have-not masses against the moneyed class bent on destroying our planet would be an exception to that rule. :)
Or a thread saver. As with most documentaries, the subject matter of GasLand completely overshadows the film-historical references in the film. Tempting to list some of the ironic ones. Have to wonder how many of the references are conscious. I wonder if Josh Fox is even aware of them. Cat Ballou?
La Plata County is next door. South of town along the river there have been many gas wells drilled, and the problems have reached emergency proportions. Thought I could find something in two minutes of googling, but I used the wrong search terms apparently. Here’s an ’08 piece in Newsweek that got the area some attention. Can’t say much about the ‘sweeping regulatory reforms’ or whatever. ;o)
http://www.newsweek.com/2008/08/19/a-toxic-spew.html
Thanks for the hints on seeing the film. We haven’t any Netflicks or even a dvd player that works now, though the tape part works. If they put it on tape, I’ll find it on Amazon used soon for three bucks. ;o)
In the NW corner, energy companies have filed on the Yampa; it’s a huge deal legally. You may remember that one of the huge reasons McCain lost votes in the mountain west was his assertion that “We need to renegotiate the Colorado River Compact.” Hu-oh; Tilt! Game Over! Fightin’ words in the West. And Ken Salazar knew water; yeah, and look at him now! We’ll see. The Colorado was so over-sold that it’s not even funny. Enter: Energy Companies. Danger.
“Perhaps one of the causes: a well educated repressed lower/middle class is revolting againset a small power elite cabal. Makes me wonder if a populist global conflageration of have-not masses against the moneyed class bent on destroying our planet is about to ignite. Guess we’ll see.”
Arguments abound at FDL about whether or not the lower classes are indeed represented in the revolution. ;o) For the rest, I’m watching almost too closely for my sanity, techgeek. Will it embolden us? Not now; too many fail to see the parallels, thanks to the Lobbyists of Egypt managing the news.
Here was my recent prayer of a sort. My eyes fill now.
http://my.firedoglake.com/wendydavis/2011/02/01/people-of-egypt-let-us-help-you-keep-strong-our-hands-in-your-hands/
A bit of Sunday morning cheer, WD.
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1axyJm/worriersanonymous.org/Share/Puppet.htm
I’ve only seen clips of the film, but fracking raises one hell of a set of issues. Yes, it allows countries to raise their domestic supply of a fairly high value fossil fuel. Yes, it reduces heating and power costs to the consumer.
But the problems are pretty obvious as well – flammable water being a reasonably obvious one. But there’s also the apparent fact that the water pumped through gains a lot of radioactivity. Pro-Publica hits it here:
http://www.propublica.org/article/is-the-marcellus-shale-too-hot-to-handle-1109
The natural gas industry has also done a brilliant PR job til now. I mean… what a great name, eh? But they pitch themselves as being cleaner than coal, in terms of air emissions like greenhouse gases. Except that… the new data coming in shows serious problems, especially with their leaking pipes. PP again.
http://www.propublica.org/article/natural-gas-and-coal-pollution-gap-in-doubt#methane_correx
What’s interesting for me is to watch whole swaths of the other energy supply industries now turn on gas. I mean, there’s a lot of reason for nuclear and coal and wind folks to not entirely love gas. And people are often unaware of the degree to which environmental opposition gets little traction UNTIL some energy behemoth slides in behind to help push. The way nuclear backed the anti-wind power voices.
So I’m waiting to see who cozies up to the greens and afflicted communities and really gets the show started.
Meantime, looks like I just got another reason to sign up to NetFlix. And apologies Billy, if I yanked the wheel off toward the techie stuff. But hey, I don’t really have much to say on film-making. Other than, MORE LIGHT-SABRES!
Thanks for the information Wendy. BTW you know what Mark Twain said about water in the West: “Whiskey’s for drinking, water’s for fighting.” I believe John Wesley Powell made some prescient comments about water and the arid west in the 19th century, so its not like there is no history on the matter. See Cadillac Desert, still one of the best written books on water in the west in my opinion. I’m originally from northern California (a true native – family goes back generations) and well aquainted with the issue of water management/use in that region (primairly the squabling between N and S CA.).
It seems there are so many assaults on our planet from so many directions – most in the name of greed. As another example, there was a FDL blog about rare earth minerals and China’s near monopoly of them
http://my.firedoglake.com/thingscomeundone/2011/02/06/rare-earth-minerals-chinas-undeclared-trade-war/
A consequence of this situation is a plan to build a road across Senegeti National park to link the Lake Victoria region (where there are minerals) and the coast. This has the potential of being an ecological disaster of unimaginable consequences. It rends my heart to think of the destruction to wildlife and habitat this will cause (potentially destroying some of the great migrations). A southern route that would leave the park undisturbed has been proposed, but the corrupt government leadership of Tanzania will not consider it.
See the Oct 30th 2010 NY Times article at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/31/world/africa/31serengeti.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1
What sad times we live in. If there is any good news, it is that we will become extinct by fouling our own nest, an experiment of nature consigned to the scrapheap of evolutionary failures. Sorry to be a downer this morning. Oh well, there’s the Superbowl to look forward to. LOL Thanks again for the insight.
Cheers
Ah, Quinn. Thanks; it did the trick; I am streaming tears. The Swan! Oy! I did shadow puppets for our kids, but none so fine as those. The parent hand reach for the babby-hand was the one…Goddam, I woory for my grandbabbies. Keep trying to clear the books outta the basement so we can make more ‘house’ down there, just in case…
I keep two versions of Wonderful World on my computer RealPlayer. This one from Smokey the Crackhead was a tear-jerker, too. I am a fan of irony; gotta be, anymore. ;o)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBhlSq1QQCU&playnext=1&list=PLF8B87244A4F5ECDB
Nice to see you, dear.
Cadillac Desert was an astounding accomplishment, wasn’t it? I hadn’t had the heart yet to read the Strategic Mineral thread yet.
The Big News here in the Shithead Capital of Dipstick County Colorado (Ed Abbey) {Cortez, CO];o) is that the local Tea Folks (aka Sagebrush Rebellioners) are now making war on the Forest Service for closing any roads to ATVs. Astounding: they are pissed that none of the all-Republican County Commissioners marched on the FS buildings with them yesterday. Meanwhile, the New Sheriff is being coy: he may or may not arrest FS personnell interfering with ATV-riders riding illegally. Goddam; they ARRE feeling their oats!
Kinda wished I could abide football… (wide grin) Unamerican in a host of ways, I is!
I’m planning an epic documentary. Me, lighting my farts, while the world burns.
Thanks for being so gracious about it, Billy. Love to see your list, even though I’m a bit film-challenged.
The pro-frackers say that the fracking process basically consists of injecting millions of gallons of water mixed with wee, wee, wee amounts of chemicals and tiny ceramic balls down a well at high pressure to break up the stubborn rock formations and release the natural gas trapped inside. And that only a “handful” of cases have been found to show that the groundwater in the proximity of fracked gas wells has been contaminated.
Oh please…
A while ago, I went to a makeup counter to buy some of this very popular Bare Escentuals Mineral Makeup. Dr. Oz got a lot of flack because he did a show calling it the ‘Number 1 most dangerous cosmetic product” around because it scars the lungs.
I bought some of this makeup before I knew about the show. It’s very nice, but I wore it for several days and immediately started bringing up mucous for the whole day. I stopped, the symptoms stopped. I used it again to make sure, and the symptoms returned. I returned the makeup.
Seems to me that if one person can do that tap water catching fire experiment, that’s enough empirical evidence for me. AND, why would that original Halliburton clause have exempted natural gas drilling from having to disclose the chemicals used, if they didn’t have something to hide?
STOP THE FRACKING NOW!
Great piece Billy. Thanks for letting me know about this. I just found this video where Mark Ruffalo speaks about fracking. I realized that I can watch it on HBO on demand. Gonna watch it after the Super Bowl. I’m going for Green Bay cause Pittsburgh beat my Jets!
You reminded me of the scene in A Prayer for Owen Meaney in which the girls and boys left unattended in his Sunday School class would inevitably hoist the diminutive Owen into the air, spread him out prone above their heads while he’d yell, “LET ME DOWN!!!”
The Sunday school teacher would always return to the room after a quick (so she thought) smoke break, and yell, “Owen! Get down from there.”
The MOTU have decided to rape, pillage and kill this country. We are rich in natural resources that they want and will acquire. It matters not what it will do to the populace. Look for the title mess in relationship to private property to be taken advantage of by the Cheney types. Own your own farm or home? Think they can’t take the mineral rights or gas rights away? They will. They don’t care what the law is.
As the powerful rollover us with their messes and scandals that go unpunished they will push us and them further towards the edge of a nasty, steep cliff.
Anybody else think Firedoglake should produce a few documentaries?
I hear you, girl. NO FRACKING WAY! That’s NYC’s water supply. And the frackers are out-of-towners, for chrissake.
Me Me Me
I hope Madame Thérèse Defarge is knitting away, cuz we need a French revolution.
This shit is so fucking obviously suicidally ruinous on so many levels it’s like some ultimate dystopian idiocy that even a fiction writer couldn’t dream up (or get published, on grounds of too ridiculous)
GAHHH
The Canadian assholes with their tar sands crap too – my god, the pissing away of precious fresh water by the zillions and zillions of gallons in these evil, ridiculous techologies
Well I guess we can expect the suicidal idiocy to only accelerate, until EROEI (energy return on energy investment) – i.e. math and mother nature – shuts this crap down for good.
Thanks for promoting this to the many people who haven’t seen GasLand yet. I live in the county with the most drilling permits issued by the state and (last I knew) the most wells drilled. We’re expected to have approximately 1600 wells drilled within the next three years.
The impacts of natural gas drilling go far beyond environmental pollution — although that is the biggest threat. Increased population as a result of the influx of gas workers and those wishing to become gas workers drives up housing costs, traffic, criminal activity, etc. All of which put more pressure on law enforcement, courts, and corrections. Increased housing costs put more pressure on families on the margins, meaning increased social service needs. We’ve seen a dramatic increase in the number of children being voluntarily placed in foster care because their parents (although working) cannot afford to provide shelter. All of this is not rare or localized, but happens everywhere natural gas drilling occurs. The difference between a successful boomtown and an unsuccessful one is the response of local and state governments.
For more information on this, check out Jeffrey Jacquet’s 2009 Energy Boomtowns and Natural Gas.[PDF]
That’s a nice post. I hadn’t read it when you first posted it. On any given day those of us who have courage and hope and feel filled from within can help those of us who are stumbling and crying that day.
What, you don’t have a fiddle?
I hadn’t heard of the documentary and didn’t really know what fracking was. I appreciate having the info. It is truly amazing on how many front there are major issues to deal with. The one I’m focusing on right now is nuclear as our city is being threatened with an increase in energy from nuclear.
Recommended.
Thanks, warrior. ‘Yes’ to your last sentence. And when our hair is so often on fire at the enormity of what’s going down, at least we can write.