Industry Groups Fight Dirty Against Oscar-Nominated Hydraulic Fracturing Documentary "Gasland"

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In the United States and beyond, governments are praising the โ€œclean, plentiful fuelโ€ that is natural gas, and tout it as a viable alternative to oil and coal. ย According to Abrahm Lustgarten at ProPublica, its advocates are calling natural gas a step toward a greener energy future due to the fact, they assert, that natural gas produces 50 percent less greenhouse gases thanย coal.ย 

Josh Foxโ€™s critically-acclaimed documentary Gasland tells quite a different story about the natural gas industry and its extraction process, called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. ย As he journeys across the United States, he discovers the devastating environmental and health impacts of humans and animals in close proximity to gas wells, and realizes that the so-called โ€œSaudi Arabia of natural gasโ€ is causing more pain than it isย worth.

After the release of Foxโ€™s documentary,ย an oil and gas lobby groupย calling itselfย โ€œEnergy In-Depthโ€ย launched a public relations offensive against the film (apparently they didnโ€™t like the footage of people lighting their tap water on fire). ย As it turns out, the website of the lobby group was registered to a Washington, DC public relations firm calledย FD Americas Public Affairsย (formerly FD Dittus Communications) whoseย clients included oil and gas lobby groups including the American Energy Alliance, run by former Republican staffers Eric Creighton, Kevin Kennedy and Lauraย Henderson.

Today, when Foxโ€™s documentary was nominated for an Academy Award forย best documentary feature,ย a major energy trade association weighed in on Gaslandโ€™s nomination. ย The industry group, the Americaโ€™s Natural Gas Allianceย argues on its website that โ€œfor our nationโ€™s economyโ€ we must make greater use of the โ€œSaudi Arabia of Natural Gasโ€ for the sake of the environment and economy.

The industry group finds the nomination โ€œparticularly troubling because natural gas is routinely and safely produced across this country and holds such extraordinary potential to advance our nationโ€™s clean energy economyโ€. ย ANGA Executive Vice President Tom Amontree went on to argue that natural gas development โ€œcan and does exist in harmony with our environment and can play a central role in improving our nationโ€™s air quality and solving our energyย challengesโ€.

ANGA calls itself โ€œan education and advocacy organizationโ€ but represents overย 30 North American natural gas exploration and production companies including EnCana, Cabot, Talisman and Apache.ย According to Andrew Restuccia atย The Hill, in an effort to protect the criticism that Gasland mounts against the industry, theyโ€™ve launchedย a campaignย against the documentary, arguing that is exaggerates the side effects ofย fracking.

Theyโ€™d better hold their breath though. ย According to new findingsย from the Environmental Protection Agency, natural gas isnโ€™t as green as these industry and lobby groups have us think. ย When you consider the full life cycle of the gas includingย the methane and other pollution emitted when gas is extracted and piped to power plants and customers, its environmental footprint skyrockets.ย ย 

The EPAโ€™s new analysis doublesย its previous estimates it made as recently as April for the amount of methane gas that leaks from loose pipe fittings and is vented from gas wells. ย Shockingly, calculations for some gas-field emissions jumped by several hundred percent, and worryingly, methane levels from the hydraulic fracturing of shale gas were 9,000 times higher than previously reported.

The โ€œclean energy futureโ€ the fracking operations promise hardly add up given these newย findings.ย 

The EPA found that the equivalent of the annual emissions from 35 million automobiles seep from loose pipe valves or are vented intentionally from gas production facilities into the atmosphere each year. ย Gas drilling emissions alone account for at least one-fifth of human-caused methane in the worldโ€™s atmosphere, the World Bank estimates, and the EPA expects these emissions to increase dramatically. ย And letโ€™s not forget that methane is far more potent than other greenhouseย gases.ย 

As the margins of advantage narrow,ย the political arguments of proponents the industry are becoming more unbelievable. ย And, as you might imagine, their PR tactics will only continue to get moreย extravagant.ย 

Despite lack of scientific proof of the industryโ€™s infallibility as a beacon of green, theyโ€™re redoubling their PR to try to convince the public of the industryโ€™s merits. And theyโ€™re fightingย dirty.ย 

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