gasland analysis

In the beginning, the narrator Josh finds out a hydro-fracking rig has opened near his house. He is afraid that it will pollute his water source, so he starts documenting the effects of hydro-fracking on his neighbor's waters supplies. He goes on a trip to personally document the effects of hydro-fracking on people’s homes. When he goes out west, he discovers the government has turned a blind eye to the drilling process and the harmful effects the chemicals can the water supply. Through his documentary he discovers that not just water can be affected. He encounters a woman named Ms. Blackburn and discovers that her father who had been documenting this for years had died two months after a rig had been installed near his house due to pancreatic cancer. Similar cases had developed throughout every sight josh visited. The film concludes with the case between the Environmental board and the drilling company in which the company was not able to defend themselves. This was partly due to Josh and the samples he collected.

This film was very interesting and helpful because in my earth science class I am giving a group presentation of Hydro-fracking, and although I discovered in my research how harmful it can be, seeing personal accounts of it gave me a better feel on the subject. I think we need to come up with a better way to get natural gas out rock because injecting chemical fluid into the ground is too risky pertaining to our water supply. After all, we need water to survive. I agree that it is a problem that we are depending on what one legislature calls "foreign oil and terrorism," but I would rather keep depending on these resources then polluting our water supply and turning American land into nasty dumps. From this film and the group project I participated in for class, I have learned that our water can be easily contaminated. Fracking needs to be a careful process that should be done nowhere near major water sources are located.