Water Under Attack is a new documentary from Josh Fox, who learned that natural gas drilling was coming to New York City’s watershed, as well as to his hometown in Milanville, PA. So he hopped in his car and drove out west to find out the effects of the recent drilling boom. Although the water has tested out OK with the city, many residents with wells still have ignitable tap water. Trust us when we say: Watch this.
Natural gas has been advertised as a solution to our nation’s energy problems. But what you aren't being told is there's a flurry of under-reported disasters: polluted air, undrinkable water and a rising health crisis. The issue as seen in this video is not natural gas in city water, of course, but natural gas that has seeped into the groundwater and thus into home wells.
Josh Fox has made it his mission to uncover and expose what's being called "The Red Zone." Currently, it's isolated to a few western states in rural areas, but that doesn't make it any less newsworthy or disheartening, as the efforts to bring this type of drilling all across the US will affect people from the north, south, east and west.
People, plants and animals are still living in these areas but have to truck their own water in. The natural gas companies and city/states in which they live have all turned a cold shoulder and told many citizens that the water is just fine, even though it's a murky color and lights on fire.
It's easy to think that this is an isolated problem, but the area which is affected isn't small and is one that supplies the country with fruits and vegetables, meats and cheeses. Produce and animals that have been grown on this same water, could they be harmful to us? Many residents complain of constant headaches and other ailments.
We don't mean to highlight this work as a scare tactic for everyone around the country, but we do encourage you to do your own research on the movement and make your own decisions or take action as you see fit. We're personally a little creeped out and are thankful for the efforts that Josh Fox is taking to bring something like this to the attention of all.
Here are a few links to get you started:
• Water Under Attack website
• Josh Fox on Vimeo
Related: Pharmaceuticals Found in US Tap Water
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I'm wondering if it's because of the drilling or does this happen naturally in areas where Natural Gas happens to be located? I'm curious to find out if he went so far as to test areas where there is no drilling and test the water wells he can find. Kind of a due diligence thing.
@somewhiteguy, I'd bet it's natural just based on what I know about natural gas fields. If it wasn't that way before, it would mean that when the gas company drilled, they cracked the cap of the field, allowing natural gas to get to places it wasn't before and they wouldn't want to do that. A leaky field is a lot less profitable than a sealed one, after all. Also, the water table often does overlap with the gas field even before it's developed.
On the other hand, I haven't heard of this anywhere in California and I know there are natural gas production fields here so maybe it isn't natural. Or maybe it's related to a particular type of formation. More information would be helpful. This guy sounds like he might want to be the next Michael Moore and he has always struck me as far more interested in sensationalism than facts (disclaimer: I haven't ever seen his movies, I found the reek of propaganda too offputting).
sounds like a job for Erin Brockovich (sp).
Holy expletive! Not the best way to test for that, because I can just imagine the whole house blowing up.
Natural Gas companies are trying to get frakking permits in the area of the NYC aquifers.
Yikes. Thanks for publicizing this, Sarah.
BTW, grammar alert:
People, plants and animals are still living in these areas but have to truck their own water in.
I doubt that the plants and animals are doing much trucking. ^_^
Thank you so much for posting this. The EPA has announced that it will return to prosecuting companies that are poisoning the water. It's a fact that investigations and prosecution of companies were shelved under the Bush Admin. We all need to get involved because this effects us all. Tiamet_the_red, if you think this is just propaganda, you might want to learn more about the issue from other sources, like http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/13/us/13water.html
and
http://www.nrdc.org/water/default.asp
and
http://www.epa.gov/water/citizen.html
Thanks! Here's to caring about the health of our neighbors and planet!
It's not unreasonable that natural gas could get into underwater water supplies, but I'm a little skeptical about this video.
Natural gas is methane - it's what your gas stove burns. Natural gas burns blue. This video shows bright orange flames, like lamp oil. (On the other hand: gas chromatography. Other dissolved elements could be adding colors.)
The flames also appear to start at the end of the tap, then they jump down into the bowl where fuel is pooled. Methane is lighter than air; it rises.
I'm not saying this isn't legit, but the evidence they're presenting doesn't necessarily support the claims they're making.
There's no way that could have happened - he has a lit flame beside the stream of water that supposedly is flammable. Then there's a huge flame burst from below.
That's what happens when you leave a gas bbq on and don't get it lit quickly. But that's with a flame far removed from the nozzle. You're not going to have a flame beside a flammable stream for several seconds before it catches - it's basic fluid dynamics.
As to the issue - living downwind from a coal plant is exceptionally unhealthy. Not just air pollution but rather high radiation as well (trace elements that precipitate out of the smoke). Overall there's a huge net benefit, but there may be some problems for some people. Compensate them, don't fall for a watermelon campaign that could easily be funded by the Saudis.
I'm just wondering....If you think Natural Gas is seeping out of something, why would you take a flame to it?
for a good article about the "ills" of Gas Drilling check this out.
http://fwweekly.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2125:leasing-our-lives-away&catid=3:second-thought&Itemid=374
just came out today, funny coincidence.
The health issues associated with natural gas (which are many and scary) have been documented in Alberta, Canada for the past two decades. Do some research - this isn't some scare campaign to keep us hooked on oil.
I should dial my suspicion back a notch. Apparently this *does* happen in certain places in private water wells.
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/18998652/detail.html
This still doesn't prove that it's correlated with or caused by natural gas drilling, but the phenomenon is definitely legit.
If he knows there is gas leaking from the faucet, why in the world is he holding a lighter full of fluid? He could blow his hand off. Why didn't he use a match? Looks fishy...
To Soren and the other cautious viewers: It's probably not PURE methane. Natural gas rarely comes out of the ground as pure methane, there are all sorts of other hydrocarbons associated with it (like the highly toxic hydrogen sulfide). That's why there are refineries and upgraders associated with any drilling array. An orange flame (instead of blue) likely has to do with those contaminants as well as the fact that the gas is coming out of the tap WITH water. I've seen this happen before, to our own well water (though ours was a natural wetland off-gassing). If you want to see a less edited clip of the sink-fire, check it out on the main website (http://waterunderattack.com/) there are tons of videos. He may be a bit of a fear monger, but sometimes bringing the truth to light induces fear.
What is the major concern on the website is not field-cracking or -leaking, but the additional "fraccing" procedures that have been going on of late. The companies have been introducing other chemicals into their wells to improve the extraction of natural gas, and in so doing are leaking THOSE chemicals into the aquifers. It's the same problem as was introduced in the mid 90s with coal bed methane extraction, only this one was given a legislative carte blanche... and some states have since banned coal bed methane collection.
I live in the Southern Tier of New York and there is about to be a free-for-all for land rights in this region from the natural gas companies trying to get to the natural gas in the Marcellus Shale. There are serious concerns with the hydraulic fracking process that they use to get at the gas. This will involve using millions of gallons of potable water mixed with chemicals (some cancer causing and toxic) forced underground to break the shale and access the gas. Some operations just South of us in PA were shut down (temporarily) and fined for spills and water contamination. The process also releases methane in some cases. There are several cases of drinking wells becoming contaminated and yes, becoming flammable.