Superstar Matt Damon’s latest politically charged movie, Promised Land, promised quite a bit that it didn’t deliver. The hydraulic fracturing that creates a focal point for the plot is of great concern to the Cornwall Alliance.
Promised Land centers on a land-lease buyer, Steve Butler (played by Damon), who goes to rural towns and purchases the rights to hydraulically fracture the ground for natural gas. Coming from a rural background himself, Butler relates well with the people—a fact key to his success.
The movie takes a turn for the worse when it starts presenting hydraulic fracturing as unalterably and significantly dangerous.
Environmental activist Dylan Noble (played by The Office’s John Krasinski), shows up to demonstrate the dangers of hydraulic fracturing, telling the townsfolk they’re making a deal with the devil.
But Promised Land’s unbalanced indictment of gas companies as negligent, disenfranchising, mega-fraudsters is itself deceptive.
Can we clear the air a little?
First, it is irresponsible to suggest that gas companies engage in massive fraud without serious evidence. Let’s remember Hanlon’s Razor: assume ignorance before malice.
Second, hydraulic fracturing, which like all activities carries risk, is not much of an objective threat.
Admittedly, negligent practices can result in leaks of natural gas or drilling fluid, or other forms of contamination, leading usually to groundwater contamination. However, several studies in the U.K, and the U.S. (here also) a low risk to groundwater contamination—in the hundreds of thousands and millions to one. And, despite videos showing people lighting their tap water on fire, which was done long before hydraulic fracturing, contamination events are compensated and fresh water supplied to those affected.
Admittedly, hydraulic fracturing seems to cause imperceptible tremors due to settling rock bed, but the tremors are mild, posing no threat to people or structures. There are millions of similar natural tremors annually.
Accordingly, hydraulic fracturers take significant safety precautions against the risks. In turn they produce abundant, inexpensive, clean natural gas, which is used to heat homes and provide energy.
Don’t forget the economic benefits. Promised Land rightly presents the desperate situation of many economically depressed farming towns whose only hope to prevent impoverishment is the sale of their natural resources, namely natural-gas rich shale. Additionally this same energy industry employs millions across the country.
Is hydraulic fracturing perfectly safe? No, nothing is. Is it worth the relatively small risks? Apparently so, as many are very willing to lease or sell their land for fracturing. Those individuals are helping to procure a highly desired resource.
Left-wing propaganda films like Promised Land are common in Hollywood. This is not the first, and it won’t be the last.
You can combat such misinformation by educating those around you. One way to do that is through this article, “Hydraulic Fracturing: A Safe Way to Produce Abundant, Clean, and Affordable Energy.”
Featured Image Courtesy of Evgeni Dinev/freedigitalphotos.net
