Energy in Depth

Energy in Depth is an oil and natural gas industry informational site.

Since June of 2010, this has been the place to read the rebuttal to Josh Fox’s documentary Gasland.

“We’ve spent some time over the past couple months taking a critical look at some of the key assertions made in the HBO documentary Gasland, putting forth in that time two separate rebuttal documents that we believe address in a substantive way a number of the misconceptions upon which the film, and its broader political message, is based.

Read the opposing viewpoints on Energy in Depth as an information source on Sourcewatch Wiki

See: Nora Eisenberg. AlterNet. July 23, 2010. Exposing the Natural Gas Industry’s Attempt to Silence Its Critics

Natural gas companies, according to the director of the documentary film ‘Gasland,’ Josh Fox, are ‘shameless and have immense resources to pay for spin.’

Please note that information taken from Wikis should be verified using other, more reliable sources. It is a good place to start research, but because anyone can edit a Wiki, we do not recommend using it in research papers or to obtain highly reliable information.

About Energy in Depth:

“Who We Are: America’s natural gas and oil producers – the majority of which are small, independent businesses with less than 12 employees- are committed to strengthening America through the safe, responsible and environmentally-friendly development of domestic energy resources.”

See extensive press-releases and archived press-releases reacting to environmental pressure, presenting the arguments of industry in favor of fracking the Marcelus Shale.

Lee Fuller. “HF 101: As Cornell Begins Study of Shale Gas Exploration, Energy In Depth Offers Itself Up as Resource for Ad Hoc Panel”. Energy in Depth.

Lee O. Fuller. Independent Petroluem Association of America. (IPAA)

Oral Statement Submitted by Mr. Lee Fuller, (archived) Representing Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) and Energy In Depth (EID), 3-28-10. (PDF, 3 pp., 46,255 bytes). Submitted to: EPA Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) Environmental Engineer Committee Hydraulic Fracturing Research Plan Review. 4/7/2010- 4/8/2010. The St Regis, 923 16th Street, NW, Washington DC 20006.

See also: Mike Hale. The Costs of Natural Gas, Including Flaming Water. The New York Times. June 21, 2010.

An image from “Gasland,” a documentary on problems attributed to natural-gas drilling, including flaming kitchen taps.

“Gasland,” a documentary making its television premiere on HBO on Monday night after winning a special jury prize at the Sundance Film Festival, is maddening in several distinct ways.

The first is the way its director, Josh Fox, intended. If you are predisposed to distrust big business and the bureaucrats who regulate it, then “Gasland,” a soberly muckracking film about the health and environmental dangers of the current nationwide rush to drill for natural gas, will light a flame in you. It might resemble the flames Mr. Fox films sprouting from people’s kitchen faucets or from the surfaces of polluted creeks, in places where methane has turned water into a fire hazard.

…The accumulation of stories and sympathetic faces is persuasive; it’s buttressed by testimony from scientists like Theo Colborn and Al Armendariz, named regional director of the Environmental Protection Agency in Dallas since the film was completed. Most viewers who seek out “Gasland” are likely to share Mr. Fox’s outrage (which he expresses in melancholy tones) and to accept the picture, familiar and so often true, of heedless profiteering, co-opted and ineffective regulation, Orwellian spin control and innocent, ruined lives. Comparisons to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico will be unavoidable.

That’s not how everyone will respond of course. The oil and gas industry has already been busy condemning the film and disputing Mr. Fox’s assertions.
Mike Hale. The Costs of Natural Gas, Including Flaming Water. The New York Times. June 21, 2010.

(Editor’s Note. 15 Dec 2023)

See also: Nick Snow. EPA starts oil, gas wastewater management study amid complexities. 9 Oct 2018. Oil & Gas Journal.

Independent Petroleum Association of America Executive Vice-Pres. Lee O. Fuller said treated wastewater from oil and gas production could be a valuable addition to US water supplies.
Nick Snow. EPA starts oil, gas wastewater management study amid complexities. 9 Oct 2018. Oil & Gas Journal.

See: U.S. EPA Initiates Hydraulic Fracturing Study | Meeting | EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB)

See: Broad Scope of EPA’s Fracturing Study Raises Ire of Gas Industry

See: Gasland: Drilling Isn’t Safe

See: Gasland – The Debate

See: Affirming Gasland

See: Ceres Principles – Corporate Environmental Conduct

See: EPA Findings on Hydraulic Fracturing Deemed “Unsupportable”

See: Coalbed Methane Development: The Costs and Benefits of an Emerging Energy Resource

See: Natural gas: the commodity world’s ugly duckling

See: This Website is a Crash Course In Fracking

See: Under the surface : fracking, fortunes and the fate of the Marcellus Shale

See: Energy & Commerce Committee Investigates Potential Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing