October 28, 2009 08:56 PM UTC

Editorial film review is misleading

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• by: Duke Cox

(Well, it does relate to my sig line… – promoted by ClubTwitty)

A recent editorial in the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel

http://www.gjsentinel.com/opin…

purports to discuss the recent documentary film, “Split Estate” by Deb Anderson, but in reality is little more than a reprint of the Colorado Oil and Gas Associations’ talking points sheet.  The opinion, printed in the Oct.24th edition, leaps to the subject of hydraulic fracturing in the first paragraph, even though the subject is very incidental to the story being told. By the end of the third paragraph, the author of the piece is ready, with the following sentence,” The documentary catalogues many of those problems.”, to write off the vast majority of the film and and its’ compelling story of many split estate landowners in the Rifle/Silt area.

[Edited to split long diary…Twitty]

Ignoring the well told tale of harm caused by waste pits, open condensate tanks, drilling accidents and the general mayhem brought about when the Bush administration opened the corn crib door and turned in the cows, so to speak, in the gas fields of Colorado, the author hastens to focus on the industry boogie man…hydraulic fracturing regulations, beginning with this little misdirection:

For instance, it is difficult to accept that fracking is responsible for someone’s health problems if another person living in the same house, breathing the same air, drinking the same water suffers none of those ailments.

It is not difficult to understand at all. People react differently to all things, including low-level, persistent toxicity. People have different habits and two people living in the same house can have vastly different exposures.

Followed closely by misdirection #2:

Anecdotes about health problems that people believe could be related to fracking are not the same as evidence of such a link. One serious difficulty in making that link, at least with respect to drinking water, is the fact that the fracking fluids are pumped through steel pipes thousands of feet into the ground – and thousands of feet below the rock formations from which drinking water is pumped.

In fact, there is no problem in making that link, since each one of those pipes is in a hole that is larger than itself. The system depends upon cement to secure the isolation the industry claims is infallible. The integrity of the system depends on the level of perfection attained by the humans who implement it. I believe the safe money is on imperfection, regardless of the best of intentions.

But, here is where I really begin to object to the attempt by this editorial to mislead the public.

But the producers and director of “Split Estate,” made little effort to provide balance in that regard. The documentary is a polemic, aimed at highlighting one side’s views about the supposed dangers of gas drilling, not at presenting a balanced picture of the arguments related to fracking.

The Sentinel editor who is responsible for this unbalanced opinion has, by this time, given away his/her motive in writing the editorial in the first place. The “arguments related to fracking” are what really has ’em scared and they are trying to distance the fracking process from this very moving and sincere expose of corporate greed and the damage it does. Those who have seen the film

  (sorry, can’t get the link to work, but go here: www.splitestate.com )

know that the subject of fracturing was highlighted by an appearance in the film by Kathy “I loves me some fracking fluid” Hall, (who, coincidentally, resigned from her position as Executive Director of COGA, within three days of her national debut on Planet Green.)

The fact is, three industry representatives are featured in the film, including Ms. Hall. How they come across to the viewers of the film is not controlled by the filmmaker, it is determined by their willingness to be disingenuous on camera. Furthermore, at least five other local companies refused to speak to Deb when she was in the area filming. Blaming the director for telling an unbalanced story is simply, and I can’t find a better word for it, bullshit.

Deb Anderson gave many company representatives the opportunity to defend their position. Kathy Hall was the best they could do.

Bonus Study Guide:

Following are a couple of paragraphs found here:

www.patentstorm.us

at Patent Storm, an online patent referral organization. The first refers to a non-toxic formula:

 non-toxic about 50 weight percent isoparaffins, (iv) at least about 80 weight percent total paraffins, hydraulic fracturing fluid”:

“A non-toxic, inexpensive synthetic fluid for use in wellbore fluids (e.g., drilling fluids) is selected from the group consisting of (A) fluids having (I) a pour point greater than about 30° C. (22° F.) and (II) a cetane index greater than 50, and comprising (i) at least about 95 weight percent hydrocarbons containing 11 or more carbon atoms, (ii) greater than 5 weight percent hydrocarbons containing 18 or more carbon atoms, (iii) at least (v) less than 10 weight percent naphthenics, (vi) less than 0.1 weight percent aromatics, and (vii) at least 2 hydrocarbons containing a consecutive number of carbon atoms, and (B) fluids comprising (i) at least about 95 weight percent hydrocarbons containing 10 or more carbon atoms and (ii) at least about 90 weight percent n-paraffins

The second is an abstract considering another non-toxic substance listed there:

A fracturing fluid and method is disclosed comprising an aqueous metal hydrated galactomannan gum, buffered to a pH of from about 9 to about 11, and using reduced amounts galactomannan gum. Further, the invention provides a metal ion source, such as borate, to crosslink the galactomannan gum polymer in subterranean fractures. In one embodiment a slowly dissolving slurried borate is used in pumping an alkaline fracturing fluid into a subterranean formation to increase production of hydrocarbons

. In another embodiment, an encapsulated borate source is used. A chemical stabilizer optionally may be used.

The point is…if you think these are bad, imagine what is in the “toxic”stuff.