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Split Estate aired on Planet Green less than a week ago, and is already making waves. Colorado county commissioners have said they need more time before deciding their stance on the pending FRAC Act, federal legislation that would bring more environmental regulations to the oil and gas industry, and rumors have spread that Kathy Hall, a Colorado Oil and Gas Association representative for the state's Western Slope, resigned as a result of last weekend's screening. Hall said in a phone interview that her resignation has "nothing, nothing, nothing to do with the documentary," which is about the environmental and health effects of oil and gas drilling in the western U.S. She made the decision in July, she said, and is "going on to other adventures."
She would not say what those other adventures are—"I'm not gonna mention what I'm doing next, because I haven't said." She did say that her resignation will not take effect until the end of the year, and in the meantime will be working on plans for an energy expo in February that she sounded particularly excited about. It happens every year, she said, and features only the newest energy technologies, including solar. Hall fully recognized the need to expand beyond oil and gas if we are to continue meeting our nation's demand for energy, but that was a separate discussion from her defense of the industry against its negative portrayal in Split Estate.
Hall appears in the film saying she "had fracking fluid taken right out of a fracking truck. I've had it in my mouth. I've tasted it, and I'm just fine." She has reversed her position, now claiming she never said those words. She has never tasted fracking chemicals (fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is a controversial method used to extract oil and gas from underground wells), "but even if I had, it would show that it's not harmful. I'm extremely healthy."
She called the film out of date, saying it was made before "any of the regulations went through" in Colorado and that it's all "old news."
Environmentalists disagree. The oil and gas industry remains exempt from both the Safe Drinking Water Act and the Clean Air Act, though the FRAC Act would repeal the exemption from the first. The only major change in Colorado (and even fewer rules have been changed in most other places) is that the industry is now required to disclose the chemicals used in fracking to medical personnel when requested—"they're not required to disclose to the public, they're required to disclose it to an agency," said Amy Mall, a senior policy analyst with NRDC. There have been minor adjustments to surface owners' rights, but no change in the bottom line: landowners can't stop gas companies from coming in to drill on their land.
Activists have been working hard to fight back, but essentially, all of the issues that affected people in the film, much of which was produced in 2008, are still affecting people today. Besides, said Mall, "even if the Colorado laws were changed, the film isn't just about Colorado."
Related Posts:
Watch the Split Estate Trailer
Split Estate: How Fracking Takes Land Away From Its Owners
Natural Gas Drilling Harms Eyes, Causes Tumors, Destroys Air: The Ugly Truth Behind the 'Natural' Energy Source
Split Estate: About
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