Breitling Oil and Gas Morning Podcast #100 June 27th, 2012

The Independent Petroleum Association of America is striking back at the negative depiction of hydraulic fracturing in the2010 HBO movie “Gasland” by Josh Fox, with a new movie of its own.

The trade group marked the official release of “Truthland”, the story of a Pennsylvania mom interviewing experts about “Gasland” in a 32-minute film financed by the IPAA.

In one of the most notorious clips from “Gasland,” a homeowner living near a well lights his drinking water on fire as it comes out of the kitchen tap. In “Truthland”, the mom reenacts the same scene with a homeowner who lives nowhere near a fracking operation. Experts point out that methane leaks into drinking water all the time and it has nothing to do with hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, the process used for decades to extract oil and natural gas from shale.

“Truthland” points out that none of the experts appearing in the movie were paid for their time in a move to assure folks that the opinions expressed therein are real.

The new documentary comes as stakes for hydraulic fracturing continue to rise, with energy companies stepping up activity in Ohio and elsewhere and as shale oil development helps ease U.S. dependence on oil from the Middle East.

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