The insurance brokerage and risk management firm Bowen, Miclette & Britt recently co-hosted a private screening of the 2013 feature documentary “FrackNation” with James E. Bashaw & Co. in Houston. The film is a response to the 2010 documentary film “Gasland” and features director Phelim McAleer setting out to try to uncover the truth about fracking.
“We felt this documentary was a great way to separate fact from fiction and remove any bias associated with a political agenda,” explained Bowen, Miclette & Britt COO Paul Cerone. “Our guests were blown away by the amount of misinformation being circulated by some individuals in the media.”
“FrackNation” begins with McAleer questioning Josh Fox, the director of “Gasland,” about the misleading nature of the latter’s film during a public event in Chicago. McAleer brought up historical records of citizens being able to light groundwater on fire because of naturally occurring methane in the ground decades before fracking operations began. Fox says the historical records aren’t relevant and refuses to answer any other questions from McAleer.
From there, the film visits many of the locations featured in “Gasland” — such as Dimock, Pennsylvania, and Dish, Texas — and shows interviews with scientists and researchers disputing claims made in Fox’s film.
The filmmakers used the popular crowd-funding site Kickstarter to raise money for the production of “FrackNation.” It was funded by 3,305 backers, who donated a total of $212,265 in 60 days. The movie’s official website explains, “All funds from oil and gas companies or their executives were explicitly rejected.”
“There has been a huge hunger for the truth,” McAleer explained to BIC Magazine. “People knew the truth was not being told in films such as ‘Gasland.’ They knew there was no science in the campaigns about fracking.”
Jon Entine, media expert and senior fellow at the Center for Health and Risk Communication at George Mason University, appears in the film to explain some of the misleading and questionable coverage of fracking in major media sources like The New York Times.
“I think ‘FrackNation’ was an appropriate response to the kind of hysterical anti-fracking, anti-shale gas monolithic rejectionism we see by an activist segment of the American society,” Entine said in an interview with BIC Magazine. “This documentary tried to show, and I think depicted well, that energy is a complex story and there are many people who embrace fracking as a tool in extracting very valuable shale gas. The goal of a lot of opponents to it is to distort the truth and hype, and exaggerate things out of context because of ideological and political reasons.”
The movie also explores the political reasons behind Russia’s stance against fracking because, as British author and journalist James Delingpole explains, many European countries depend on Russia for their natural gas.
In February 2013 shortly after its premiere, “FrackNation” was shown to the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Science, Space and Technology’s Sub-committee on Environment.
“This is really a not-miss movie for anyone interested in not only the issue of shale gas and fracking but also how the media and activist organizations can manipulate public opinion,” Entine added. “The beauty of this documentary is it exposes how people are being manipulated and who the manipulators are.”
BIC Alliance will co-sponsor a showing of “FrackNation” in Baton Rouge, La., Dec. 12.
To learn more about media stories relating to the energy industry, contact Earl Heard at (800) 460-4242 or visit BICMagazine.com.
