There's an environmentalist out there named Josh Fox who has made a couple of movies, Gasland and Gasland II, in which the crowning images in both are flames coming from household water taps. His goal is to thwart natural gas exploration and production in the name of saving the planet, and he counts as a "win" any government restriction on the oil and gas industry whether based on fact or fiction.
There's a theory that for many ardent environmentalists, "environmentalism" is like a religion. And its most ardent proponents are comparable to religious zealots with their presumed moral superiority and their fight against evil. Mr. Fox's tactics reinforce that theory.
Freebeacon.com addressed Mr. Fox's movies today in Gasland Director Presents Anti-Fracking Hoax as Evidence in New Film. Energyindepth.org addressed it as well in From Flaming Faucet to Flaming Hose: The Continuing Fraud of Gasland.
Unfortunately, the news source of the low information voter, The Daily Show, presents Mr. Fox as a voice of reason. See for yourself at segment 1 and segment 2.
But the problem with those flaming water taps depicted in his films is that they are either unrelated to oil and gas production or outright hoaxes. The one in the first film was supposed to be blamed on natural gas drilling, but in fact it was a phenomenon common to the area for years and which the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission had already investigated. They found that the water wells in question, "contained biogenic gas that was not related to oil and gas activity." Link to special report, which concludes with this:
Finally, it should be understood that the COGCC Director, Dave Neslin, offered to speak with Gasland’s producer, Josh Fox, on camera during the filming of the movie. Because the issues are technical and complex and arouse concerns in many people, Director Neslin asked that he be allowed to review any material from the interview that would be included in the final film. Unfortunately, Mr. Fox declined. Such a discussion might have prevented the inaccuracies noted above.
The scene in Gasland Part II of the flaming water hose was fake. A Texas court had already determined that the hose was connected to a gas vent and not a water source. See From Flaming Faucet to Flaming Hose: The Continuing Fraud of Gasland. Furthermore, the Texas Railroad Commission had already investigated the matter and concluded that the gas was naturally occurring and which probably seeped from a shallow formation which was completely unrelated to any oil and gas production in the area. (The targeted oil company posted the RRC report online.)
Mr. Fox has the audacity to ask why haven't government regulators done anything about this. (See The Daily Show segment 1.) His own answer to that question is that, "The natural gas industry has come in and literally taken away the regulatory agencies from the people, has obstructed the science, and has advised even the President of the United States."
Maybe the crusader Mr. Fox believes his opponents are so evil then his deception tactics are relatively minor sins, and the religion of environmentalism absolves him of any guilt. Reminds me of Jack Nicholson's character in "A Few Good Men." In his view his work was so important that a minor crime like murder was an inconvenient byproduct.
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