Paul Krugman wrote an editorial, which is linked here.

Paul Krugman got it right. The oil patch isn’t going to save the American economy—it isn’t a jobs program, but it is a death program for those who live near wildcat operations. I deliberately used the term wildcat—they are small operators who frequently do not have either the will to do the job right or the financial strength to clean up the messes they make. Wildcatters punch holes in the ground, and then move on either flat broke or looking for the next exciting play. They are the entrepreneurs of the oil patch, taking risks, and failing at a rate higher than the more established businessmen.

There are responsible operators, generally the larger ones, who do stick to industry best practices (for the most part.) I’m not saying they are altruistic, just that they don’t usually walk away from a mess at a well site, because they have money in the game that needs to be protected. They do exactly what regulations require, nothing more. So if regulations are weak, even they make messes that taxpayers get to fix.

The only thing that Krugman didn’t mention is that the big money in the industry all goes to executives, politicians, with a few traveling rig masters earning a decent living.  The new rigs are so complicated that their operators move from site to site—no locals need apply. Hence, the jobs in a local market look like they are going up, but the only impact on the local economy is increased accidents caused by heavy equipment going too fast on county roads, which are torn up—with the damages paid for by local taxes.

Local economies often find themselves in boom and bust cycles, where during the optimism of the boom years building trades boom to accommodate the imported workers and their families, and the local tax payer is stuck with the bill when all those buildings sit empty when the inevitable bust comes. Empty buildings turn into blight, as windows become broken, two and four legged critters invade, and graffiti becomes more prominent than the once proud corporate logos fading in the elements.

FYI of press release just sent out.  Feel free to spread far and wide
Gary
*********************

For Immediate Release
February 29, 2012
Sierra Club Poudre Canyon Group and Clean Water Action
Contacts:  Shane Davis, 509-570-4422;  Gary Wockner, 970-218-8310

Colorado Oil and Gas Association Statement Not Correct, Again
Contamination of Laramie-Fox Hills Aquifer and Residential Water Well Occurred in 2009

Fort Collins, CO -- In the February 28, 2012 online version of the Denver Post, the President of the Colorado Oil and Gas Association is quoted as making this statement: 

Colorado's rules include provisions addressing "cementing and casing of wells," Schuller said. And since 2009 "there has not been a drilling or hydraulic-fracturing incident that has affected groundwater, and there have been no incidents which have affected a family's or community's drinking water," she said.   http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_20058409

This statement is not correct.

One such "incident" occurred on August 11, 2009 in which toulene and dissolved methane were found in a residential water well in Weld County that included contamination of the Fox-Hills Aquifer.  The homeowner filed a complaint ("gas bubbles were present in his water").  The COGCC tested the water and found the contaminants.  The COGCC required a nearby gas well to be tested and concluded there was a hole in the casing.  The gas well was then shut down.  The operator (Eddy Oil) was fined $46,200 and required to remediate the property owner's impacts.  The extent of the contamination to the Laramie-Fox Hills aquifer is unclear at this time as is any effort to decontaminate the aquifer.

Here is the "NOAV" Report for the incident:  http://cogcc.state.co.us/cogis/NOAVReport.asp?doc_num=200222149
Here is the Spill/Release Report ("Form 19, 6/99"):  http://water.clean.home.comcast.net/~water.clean/Form-19-Final-at-02-19-10-EDDY-OIL-CO.pdf
Here is the "Administrative Order By Consent 1V-349" in which it states (http://water.clean.home.comcast.net/~water.clean/Administrative-Order-By-Consent-1V-349.doc):

16. Based on the above facts, COGCC Staff contend that a hole in the production casing in the Well resulted in a significant waste of oil and gas resources and a significant adverse impact on public health, safety or welfare or the environment as it pertains to Rule 324A.a. COGCC Staff further contend that Eddy Oil’s failure to maintain a casing program to prevent the migration of produced gas from Codell Formation in the Well to the Laramie-Fox Hills Aquifer resulted in the degradation and contamination of ground water.  (page 3)

"COGA's statement in the Denver Post is not correct," said Shane Davis of the Sierra Club.  "Groundwater and aquifer contamination have occurred in a residential water well since 2009."

Further, the Sierra Club and Clean Water Action point out that "since 2009," Spill/Release Reports sent to the COGCC by drilling operators in Weld County show that 46.3% of the 452 spills/releases contaminated groundwater and 2.2% of 452 spills/releases contaminated surface water.  (Table here:  http://water.clean.home.comcast.net/~water.clean/SC-CWA-to-COGA-Since-2009-2-29-2012.pdf)

"Groundwater and surface water are being contaminated by oil and gas production activities," said Gary Wockner of Clean Water Action.

The Sierra Club and Clean Water Action continue to analyze the data from Weld County, Colorado.

In Friday’s Grand Junction Free Press, Ray Scott wrote an opinion piece on his plans as our representative in Denver.  As I mentioned yesterday, the battle lines have been drawn.  It appears Scott is dreading the battle, although his term is “interesting year.” His piece leads with mention of the reapportionment, but to his credit, he doesn’t use the official GOP term for it—vindictive.  He even acknowledges that as a freshman legislator he isn’t quite sure what to expect when the combatants reconvene.

Regarding the budget,  Representative Scott opines that there will need to be cuts, which “do not sit well” with the opposing army. I’m hoping that is another manifestation of his Newbie status because the Democrats have balanced the budget in all the years that they’ve been in control of the House since TABOR was enacted, possible before—I just wasn’t paying attention then.

What doesn’t sit well with Democrats is the constant insistence, on the part of the GOP, to undermine the social net in favor of profits. We don’t have a problem with fiscal responsibility; we do have a problem with greed. And no, Representative Scott, the success of business does not depend on giving the store away to the oil and gas industry.

The oil and gas industry is regulated, yes, but they are also the most successful and profitable industry on the face of this planet.  At the national level they are subsidized with tax loopholes that could be better placed elsewhere.  Personally, I’d like to see an all out effort to develop alternative energies—maybe thorium reactors the size of a suitcase as one example. At the state level the severance taxes are some of the lowest of all oil producing states. In other states, those higher severance taxes fund education.

By the way, Representative Scott, regulation does not kill jobs as you love to say. I recently attended a water seminar for prospective county commissioners. (No, I’m not running for that office.) At that seminar, Larry Clever of Ute Water got up on his soapbox about how regulations were in his way because of all of the EPA mandated requirements to test for clean water. When asked what the impact was, he pointed out that he used to have one lab technician and now he has three.  By my count that regulation created two good jobs in Mesa County, and we are all glad to know that it is safe to drink the water.

Representative Scott really threw me off with this comment:  “What we need to remain focused on is how to provide … education with the resources at hand, and remember that raising taxes is not the only solution — that, in fact, it is usually the worst possible solution — to the problem.” Would somebody please tell Representative Scott that the legislature cannot raise taxes? It takes a vote of the people, so he won’t be faced with that dilemma while in the House.

Scott ended his piece by saying, “I will also continue to fight for our oil and gas industry, which remains the backbone of our economy on the Western Slope. I will continue to push for responsible development on the Roan Plateau, and I will continue to work with the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to ensure the rules they pass make sense, and are not unrealistic or unnecessarily restrictive.” By that I hope he doesn’t mean that he is going to try again to pass a bill giving the Commission back to the industry. If he does, I will be doing everything I possibly can to make sure that he loses that fight.

Homework

Ray Scott Predictions for Legislative Session

Tim Foster has friends in high places.

In 2011 Colorado’s legislature tried to deal with the fact that counties impacted by oil and gas development were seeing PILT money lowered by the amount of federal lease money they received.  The introduction to the bill reads “counties would not be able to fund important services and programs for citizen enjoyment of public lands without maximizing payment in lieu of taxes funding to Colorado.”

So the purpose of the bill was to help cities and counties who were impacted by oil and gas activities. How are cities and counties impacted? Schools have an influx of kids, during the boom cycle when there is a corresponding increase in workers from out of state. Roads are torn up by heavy equipment. There are housing shortages. There is an increase in respiratory health problems when gas is flared, or toxins evaporating from oil and gas pits become air borne.

Mesa County set up a Mineral Lease Board to implement the bill. The bill requires that a Mineral Lease Board include at least one county commissioner, but representatives of the county could not be a majority of the board. The board was to be appointed by county commissioners, who could also remove a member that they had appointed. The duties of the board are “to distribute all of the funding the district receives from the department of local affairs to areas within the district that are socially or economically impacted by the development, processing, or energy conversion of fuels and minerals leased under the Federal Mineral Lands Leasing Act of February 25, 1920, as amended.”

The county representative to the Mesa County Mineral Lease Board is Craig Meis (oil and gas industry suck-up). Two other representatives are David Ludlam  (Spokesman for the oil and gas industry) and Craig Springer (President of Home Loan Bank.) Note that the board has two members who have close ties to the oil and gas industry, but nobody from School District 51, or the city of Grand Junction, or the community of Whitewater, or the community of Mesa  or the city of Fruita, or the city of Palisade, or the health care community, or anybody actually impacted by oil and gas activity in Mesa County. So it is probably no surprise that all of the money coming to Mesa County under this bill is going to our local “University “ and none of it is going to help K-12 with their funding; none of it is going to local hospitals or other health care professionals; none of it is going to repair damaged roads; none of it is going to impacted cities.

There were 10 applicants, but all of the money went to one place. To be fair, there is some question about whether this bill actually got around the Federal problem it was trying to address. There is some possibility that the funds will have to be repaid, and the structure of the program at the “University” will make it easier to refund the money should it become necessary.

Homework

Sentinel Story About Grant

Bill Authorizing Mineral Lease Boards

I spent all of yesterday in a hearing in Denver. The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission held an all day hearing on proposed changes to fracking rules. The day was structured so that public comments were accepted first, then the staff of the Commission submitted their report, based on comments made on-line prior to the hearing date and their research, then the parties with "status" submitted their testimony. The first party with "status" was the oil and gas industry, followed by environmentalists and representatives of local government. I confess, I missed the presentations by local governments, because the hearing was still going strong when I left, at about 5:00 p.m.

The oil and gas industry primarily testified about two things. First up was a discussion of the design of the FracFocus website, which is a place where industry is posting some details about chemicals used at wellsites. They were concerned with the proposed rule because it requires that the website be searchable by chemical, in addition to the other criteria which can already been searched. Their second concern was with the "trade secrets loophole". A representative from Halliburton testified that they had propriatory recipes for chemicals that were being used in the fracking process that had increased production in some fields by as much as 25%. He alleged that if Colorado required Halliburton to disclose all chemicals in the recipe, they would lose a competitive advantage because it would be possible to reverse engineer the formula.

Earlier in the day, during the public comment period, one woman pointed out that just because someone gave her the ingredients for creme brule' didn't mean that she would be able to make it. I've seen the recipe for creme brule' and I don't think I could make it even with complete instructions! Another person testifying pointed out that the food industry already is required to list all ingredients, and their ingredients aren't nearly as dangerous as the chemicals used by the oil and gas industry. And taking the food discussion full circle, Halliburton said that in their new "green" technology much of the chemicals they are using are being sourced from the food industry.

The first group up after the testimony presented by industry was Western Colorado Congress. We were one of four groups that were granted "party status" in the hearing. Each of the four groups were given 1.5 hours to present their case. Western Colorado Congress wants full disclosure of all fracking chemicals, pre-notification of chemicals to be used so that landowners can obtain baseline data of how their land and water looks pre-drilling and fracking. We brought in three witnesses: an activist from Battlement Mesa, a former Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commissioner and Garfield County Commissioner, and an activist from Clark, Wyoming. Tresi Houpt, the former Commissioner, testified about people reporting illnesses after fracking activity on or near their property, bringing in the public health concerns. The woman from Wyoming, has been at ground zero where the EPA has confirmed that water wells in Pavilion, Wyoming have been pollutted by industry activities. Halliburton had testified that there had never been any demonstrated pollution of water from industry practices--a position that was challenged by Rich Allward, the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commissioner who lives in Grand Junction.

Members of the front range environmental commission delivered all of their testimony through their attorney, Mike Freeman. At one point I was amused when Freeman quoted a bit of case law that sent an oil and gas attorney to his law book. Freeman was a bit softer on the issue than was Western Colorado Congress. He was willing to accept some trade secrets, so long as regulators had access to the detail of chemicals contained in the formulas.

The COGCC will vote on this rule in a meeting in Greeley on Monday.  

_ Yesterday I had the privilege of being invited on an EcoFlight aerial tour of the Piceance  Basin.  EcoFlight, headquartered in Aspen, is a not-for-profit, membership organization that works to protect remaining wilderness and wildlife habitat. One of their tactics is to offer “political decision makers, media representatives, concerned citizens, conservation groups, scientists, community and tribal leaders” tours of industrial sites on public lands via a low flying small plane.

This particular flight was organized by the Colorado Environmental Coalition. Six of us, including the pilot, climbed onto a small, single-engine airplane yesterday morning for a 45 minute flight over Colorado’s oil shale deposits. This is an area that is mostly public land, although there are some private landowners along the creeks. In addition to oil shale deposits, there is an active oil and gas (mostly gas) field. It is also home to some of the largest mule deer and elk herds in North America.

What is apparent from the air, but what is mostly hidden from the view of most visitors to this wilderness, is the vast scale of existing exploration and production in an area that has historically been noted for its excellent hunting and fishing, rather than industrial development. The cumulative effect of leasing activity is changing the landscape and wildlife habitat forever. It is impossible to put into words the scope of these projects, so I’ve posted photographs to WCC-Mesa’s Facebook page, which is linked below.

After the aerial tour, we hopped into an SUV, and spent the rest of the day driving to some of the installations. Our first stop was for lunch at the Pink Pig, a thriving business run out of a trailer at the side of the county road that once hosted 6,000 vehicles a day during the peak of exploration and construction.  Directly across from the roadside restaurant, where there were long lines and limited seating, there was a “store” selling protective gear to the oil field workers. It occurred to me that some things never change. When miners came to Colorado in search of gold, entrepreneurs quickly followed, setting up shops to feed and clothe the miners.  There is a “community” at the side of the road in the middle of a national forest, and you can shop using your credit and/or debit cards, with receipts sent to your smart phone.

Our next stop was at an oil shale lease where a freeze wall experiment is ongoing.  This is a huge installation in the middle of nowhere. According to a former employee of the Division of Wildlife, prior to this project, a heard of elk occupied the space. The idea behind the experiment is that heated oil can be contained in an area if it is surrounded by frozen rocks. Shafts are drilled, and frozen liquids are pumped into them, effectively forming a wall of ice, which prevents oil in the interior reservoir from mixing with and polluting surface water.

Despite this project being on the edge of the same county road as the Pink Pig and clothing store, operators of the facility don’t want anyone around. Not long after we parked, and began taking pictures from different vantage points along the road, a white truck came rushing out of the area behind a security fence.  The driver, who sounded like he was from West Texas, asked us who we were with and what we were doing there. We indicated that we were on an educational tour to learn about the industry, which seemed to be all the information he needed. He went back into the facility and set off an ear shattering alarm. I don’t know how often that alarm is sounded, but I can tell you that it would easily stampede a herd of elk or mule deer. It worked; it drove us away from the area. It also is why there are no elk or mule deer to be seen anywhere near the project. (We didn’t see any wildlife at all, until the end of the day, when we saw one lonely doe.)

From the freeze wall installation, we moved along to a baking soda plant. Your eyes are not deceiving you. Baking soda is manufactured on an experimental oil shale lease. When you look at the linked photos, the structure with a large cone shaped building is the baking soda plant.

Our final stop was at a gas processing plant known as the Enterprise.

It is impossible to wrap my head around how huge these installations are—and the oil shale leases are still experimental. We have already destroyed the wildlife habitat, and nobody has found a way to commercially produce oil from oil shale. Every ridge already has a road and/or well pad on it. A map of the wells is one of the photos in the link.  On the map it looks like the land has chicken pox, except the infection is man’s lust for fossil fuels.

Homework

Link to Photos

EcoFlight

Colorado Environmental Coalition

Schematic of Freeze Wall

Nexus of Baking Soda and Oil Shale

Exxon Mobile Enterprise

There was so much going on this week that only a fraction of the happenings made it into blog posts. So, let’s play catch up…

Monday was the monthly meeting of the Mesa County Democratic Executive Committee. Because of a glitch in moving our E-mail provider from one program to another, notices went out late, and barely a quorum showed up. These meetings are open to all membership, although only members of the executive committee are allowed to vote on matters. Check out the newly redesigned Mesa DEMS homepage, and see what is coming up. We usually have a lot of fun when we get together.

Link to DEMS website

Thursday a group of people visited Scott Tipton’s office to ask him to reconsider his vote to support subsidies for the oil and gas industry. Several of us stood around in the rain holding signs for the press, then went up to Tipton’s office, where we met with one member of his staff while the second member hid in the men’s room. For me the most amusing part was when the staffer tried to tell us that Scott Tipton was not a typical politician because he even has the Republican leadership pissed at him. Then he asked if we had looked at his voting record, pointing out that Tipton voted against the continuing resolution. Clearly the staffer is used to arguing with members of the Tea Party because every one of us said we had looked at Tipton’s voting record. I’m afraid I was a bit unladylike when I said that he votes like an idiot.

Page A4 of Free Press Has Picture of Protesters

I'll Never Understand Republican Thinking

Democratic Petition Asking to End Big Oil Subsidies

Thursday Evening there was a State of the River Presentation at City Hall.  This presentation is now viewing at various times at Channel 12. The first speaker was Erik Knight of the Bureau of Reclamation, who told us that Colorado River snowpack is at 193% of average. Somewhat unusual this year was continued accumulation into April and May because of cool temperatures and spring storms. This is a good news bad news story. The good news is that water will be replaced in down river storage dams, like Lake Powell and Lake Mead. The bad news is that there will be flooding along the Colorado River when weather warms and the snow begins melting.

Then people who have been working on the Colorado River Cooperative Agreement Proposal discussed the proposal, and the steps needed for approval. This is a proposal that has already been in the discussion stage for at least six years, so it is a really big deal—a favorite phrase of Dick Proctor, Mesa County’s outgoing representative—to be replaced by Steve Acquafresca.

 Eric Kuhn, who has 30 years of experience watching the Colorado River then spoke, reminding us that 80% of Colorado’s water is on the western slope, while 80% of the population is on the front range. The first trans mountain diversion, back in 1871, was to quench the thirst of a growing front range population, before Colorado even became a state. The Western Slope interests in this proposed agreement included:

·         Streamflow protection and restoration (more water in streams in Grand and Summit Counties);

·         Water for future consumptive use;

·         Preserve Shoshone flow regimes (ensures water delivery downstream even if the power plant is not running);

·         Front Range conservation and reuse of water;

·         Clarity about Denver’s water service area;

·         Limits on future water projects without cooperation of all signatories to the agreement.

Jim Lockhead then spoke about the role played by Denver water in the proposed Agreement, followed by Mark Hermundstad a local water attorney discussing some of the still unresolved language and points. The final speaker was Dick Proctor, who kept reminding us it was a really big deal.

Then at the regular meeting of Friday morning bagel munchers, Glenn Miller, a geologist gave a formal presentation of the challenges and opportunities of oil shale.  He brought guests who had managed previous oil shale prototype projects on “Tract CA” and “Tract CB” in the Piceance Basin.  Short version:

·         the Piceance Basin contains more oil shale than all of Saudi Arabia in approximately 1,000 square miles running north of Parachute, Southwest of Meker and Southeast of Rangely.

·         Currently there are R & D leases that are looking for commercially feasible ways to produce the oil from the shale.

·         Upside is huge. There is as much as 2.5 million to 3 million barles of oil under each acre. In the Mahogany Zone, the average resource is ¾ barrel of oil for each ton of shale. A tone of shale is approximately 3’ X 3’ X 3’. There are 100 Prudo Bays worth of oil in the Piceance Basin.

·         Limitations include water which is governed by the Colorado River Compact, which has been in place since the 1920’s, and not in Colorado’s best interest to renegotiate. The water is needed primarily to cool the shale after it has been treated.

·         There is a “popcorn” factor. When shale is broken into tiny pieces, it takes more space than it otherwise does.

·         Spent shale has environmental problems, mostly related to leaching chemicals into the soil and/or water supply.

·         Current demonstration projects are only concerned with extracting oil, but other products, including aluminum and rare earths are also present. Miller’s opinion is that no shale should be developed until the process recovers all valuable resources contained in the deposits. The only proven methodology to do that is strip mining, which has the potential of delivering huge quantities of cement into the market place also.

No homework today. Enjoy the rest of the week-end. I plan to spend it in my garden with my dog.

We are three days away from the end of Colorado’s legislative session. Steve King is in panic mode because his Regulatory Recapture Bill hasn’t yet been passed. You may remember that I’ve written about HB 1223 repeatedly. If it doesn’t pass the Senate by midnight Wednesday, it is dead. At least until some bonehead once again decides to put the profits of the oil and gas industry ahead of the health and welfare of the citizens of the state.

Today, King “wrote” an op-ed for the Sentinel using the same tired story that regulations caused the downturn in the economy. That’s pure bullshit. Market conditions caused the slowdown—the price of natural gas went down, so investors slowed down their investing in exploration. Colorado’s oil and gas industry is alive and well, and doing business in the state. The recent trend is toward increased activity, not continued decreases.

The same issue of the Sentinel had a stark reminder of why regulation is so important. Three years ago  there were two spills of oil and gas chemicals that are finally going to have a hearing by the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Committee.  May 16 – 18 the Committee will consider fining Berry Petroleum after they reported spilling over 100,000 gallons of drilling fluids into a tributary of Parachute Creek. Later the Committee will consider actions against Marathon Oil, which reported spilling 1.25 million gallons of fracking fluid in the same area.

Regulatory capture is responsible for the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Every drilling plan contained the same language, including some that demonstrated the plans were simply a cut and paste job. They mentioned protecting aquatic animals that do not exist in the Gulf, and haven’t for thousands, if not millions, of years. The plans were approved because nobody at the agency responsible for regulations was reading them.

Colorado changed the rules that regulate the industry on state and private lands so that the environmental and farming interests would have a voice at the table. Steve King and Ray Scott want the commission to go back to the way it was, with industry calling all the shots. It is a lame-brained idea that is only supported by small companies and legislators who listen only to this one segment of the industry. The big boys have moved on. HB 1223 deserves a quick death in the Senate.

Homework:

Garden Gulch Hearings

Steve King Op Ed

Wikipedia Defines Regulatory Capture

September 2010 Report Finds Regulatory Capture in Oil and Gas Industry

America needs to kick its addiction to imported oil. That was true when T. Boone Pickens started lobbying for the development of wind farms after spending life as an oil and gas developer. It is still true even though Pickens suspended his idea for a Texas wind farm in 2009, no doubt because he couldn’t find enough investors to take away his risk. Officially Pickens said that he lost interest when the price of natural gas went down--kinda like the oil and gas exploration companies in Mesa County.

There is a more altruistic reason to kick the addiction to imported oil. Our friends aren’t friends of either democracy or our way of life. Take the House of Saud, as an example. Saudi Arabia is a monarchy, with a lot to lose if democratic ideals take hold in the country. Saudi women don’t enjoy anything approaching equality—they can’t even get a driver’s license. Yet, we’ve been arming the Saudis with our leading edge technologies for years.

We also armed the Egyptians. An argument can be made that Egypt it didn’t turn out badly, mostly because the Egyptian Army heard from our State Department that they wouldn’t continue to have unlimited access to military toys if they used arms on the citizens of Egypt. The House of Saud was apoplectic when the US called for Mubarak to step down.

The Saudi army isn’t as likely to be loyal to the people of Saudia Arabia. They are bought and paid for by the Saudi Princes who have no desire to institute any democratic reforms. In fact, they are so aghast at the idea of democracy taking over the Mid-East that they have sent their U.S. supplied military into bordering nations to squash protestors.

The House of Saud is also paranoid about Iran. In fact, they are convinced that the democracy movement is something that has been concocted by Iranian spies. They are so paranoid that they have agreed to allow Israel access to their air space if an attack on Iran is the purpose.

Friendship with Saudi Arabia may become increasingly expensive and questionable since the two nations do not share political agendas. As the House of Saud digs in its heels, refusing to consider any reforms, they may become more enemy than friend, and what will happen to our access to Mid-East oil then?

Homework

The House of Saud Won't Wake Up

Pickens Puts Windfarm on Hold

Sunday is Oscar night. It has been years since I’ve been interested in watching the Academy Awards, mostly because I’d usually rather curl up in a comfy chair, with a cup of green tea, and read a good trashy novel than watch a movie. It’s just not all that fun to go to a theater alone. The last movie I saw in a theater was Waiting for Superman, and that was because Club 20 organized a whole group of people to watch and discuss the movie. I never think to watch a movie on TV. My channel surfing is much more likely to end up at a cable news channel. I’ll admit it, I’m a political junkie.

But I’ll probably tune in to the Oscars on Sunday night. I am fascinated by the drama surrounding the nomination of Gasland. The documentary put the term fracking in the dictionary. Fracking has been the subject of many investigative journalists and a new EPA study since the movie’s debut. The environmentalists of the world see Gasland as ammunition in a fight against pollution of air and water by oil and gas exploration and production. The industry sees it as a pack of lies.

In fact the industry is so upset about Gasland’s nomination, that they lodged a PR campaign against the film. They sent a letter to the Academy suggesting that the film is ineligible for an Oscar. They created their own film about the industry. Problem is, the group complaining the loudest is a group that lobbies against any regulation of the oil and gas industry. If the industry doesn’t have to worry about pesky safeguards for the health of ordinary citizens they can make more money. It’s all about money.

PR campaigns aren’t about truth, PR campaigns are about protecting the industry with the checkbook. There are two simple formulas for any industry: short cut = profit; regulation = expense. PR campaigns are all about protecting the profits of the company and have nothing to do with protecting the rights or safety of the public. They are all about diverting attention from what is really happening, or shifting the blame to someone else. The fact that the industry is so hell bent on discrediting Gasland tells me that it is worried about its profits. I don’t know why, with the subsidies it gets from governments and the addiction we all have to guzzling its products, the industry is one of the most profitable in the world.

The EPA ordered a study of fracking. The study has been passed to a panel of scientists for peer review, which means that its release is imminent. The industry is embattled, and is going to fight anything that might change the way it does business. Personally, I’m more prone to believe a panel of scientists about fracking issues than to believe a PR firm charged with creating diversions. A diversion is just a sophisticated lie.

I hope Gasland wins its Oscar. Oscar winners usually draw audiences. Every American should see Gasland. After viewing the film, they should read the EPA report on fracking, and start thinking about the world they want to inhabit.

I’ll be watching for the results on Sunday night. I’ll be cheering for Gasland. I’ll be cheering for the health of our planet. And I’ll be watching to see who is wearing green ribbons on their designer gowns and tuxedos.

Homework

Academy Award Nomination for Gasland

Oscar Nominations and Voting

Oil and Gas Companies Petition Against Gasland Oscar

Energy Industry's Response to Gasland

Public Relations Campaigns

Top Five PR Campaigns of the Decade