“Gas Odyssey” The Film. “Fuel for Thought”

Natural Gas Production Worldwide

Update 5/9/10.

I just finished watching “Gas Odyssey.” The producer Aaron Price, mentioned in the post below, did a marvelous job of interviewing residents both in New York and Pennsylvania. He tells both sides of the story of the fracking technique using education to disspell fears of the process. Hopefully the studies will be finished soon and New York and its citizens can be on their way to opening the door to a wealth of opportunity. You can follow the updates of the study from the Natural gas Development Team in Broome County, New York. For those of you new to the hydro-fracking process, here is an excellent power-point presentation which explains it very well. Original post begins at the red asterisk.

Update 5/5/10. “Gas Odyssey” the film is now available on DVD for $15. You can order it here.

*For those of you unfamiliar with the natural gas drilling technology and geology please take a couple of moments to read the first few paragraphs. It will make this article much easier to understand and you can tell everyone else you “learned something new today.”

Oil and natural gas exploration in the US and in Her offshore waters is and has always been fraught with controversy. Natural gas is a fossil fuel which consists primarily of methane. It is an important fuel source and also a component of fertilizer. As you can see by the map here, courtesy of Wikipedia, Russia has the most natural gas production, followed by offshore wells in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE. The map shows natural gas production by country in cubic meters per year (countries in brown and then red have the largest production). As you can see, The US is a huge producer.

Of course along with natural gas mining and production comes a wealth of jobs. From site preparation, the extraction process, safety of the environment, transportation and then the refining process. Many of these gas deposits lay near the surface of the earth but others lay deep within the rock called “shale.” The problem with shale is it has insufficient permeability to allow enough fluid flow to a well bore. One analyst has estimated that as much as one half of US gas production by the year 2020 could come from shale gas.

Because of the unique properties of shale, the extraction of natural gas in these areas requires a different method called “hydraulic fracking.” This “fracking” or “fracturing” of the rock can be either natural or man-made and is extended by internal fluid pressure which opens the fracture and causes it to grow into the rock. Man-made fractures are created by pumping a cocktail of various chemicals through a bore hole. The fracture must then be kept open, usually by sand. This “fracking” process is highly controversial and many environmentalists as well as citizens are opposed to it.

Parts of New York and Ohio, a good portion of Pennsylvania, and most of West Virginia sit on what is called the “Marcellus Shale.” Below is a map of the Marcellus Shale (gray).  [Modified after: United States Geological Survey, Open-File Report 2006-1237, Assessment of Appalachian Basin oil and gas resources: Devonian Shale-Middle and Upper Paleozoic Total Petroleum System, by Robert Milici and Christopher Swezey.]

Marcellus Shale Map

While there is natural gas drilling going on in both Pennsylvania and New York, at this time the “high volume” hydro fracking process which is necessary to release natural gas from shale deposits is not allowed in NY. The pressure by citizens and environmentalists in New York contributed to the Governor declaring a moratorium until a study was completed by the New York Department of Environmental Conservation. There are high hopes the process will be finished by the end of the summer.

While the present Administration claims the Stimulus Bill has created 215,000 jobs in New York, this report by Ways and Means Republicans states actually 143,300 jobs have been lost in that state.

I had the pleasure of talking with Mr. Aaron Price, a resident of New York. For a long time he’s watched in frustration as folks in PA, not far from where he lives, reaped the benefits of natural gas drilling. Because his state has been hit hard by unemployment he sees drilling as a way of bringing many of those jobs back. So he decided to take action and make a film, “Gas Odyssey,”  telling both sides of the story of the fracking process in hopes of dispelling peoples fears.

Because of the Governor’s moratorium, Mr. Price feels that New York is already way behind other states and even if the moratorium is lifted later this year it will take several years before any citizens in New York receive any job benefit.

Mr. Price’s “odyssey” entailed interviewing ordinary people, legislators, workers and community leaders both in Pennsylvania and New York about the process, their experiences and how the massive job losses have hit New Yorkers hard. He tells me his film is meant for “everyone in the country” and his tale is told in a non-partisan manner. He also sees it as an opportunity for capturing the unique character and flavor of rural America where most of these residents reside. You can see the trailer for the film here.

Mr. Price believes if all the energy resources in this country were allowed to be tapped America could be well on its way to energy independence from foreign countries. This would also create a multitude of jobs and keep US dollars within our country instead of spending them to buy resources which are already here in America.

Mr. Price and his family put a lot of their hard-earned dollars into producing this film in hopes of saving areas of New York which are suffering from exorbitant tax increases, lower agricultural profits than 20 years ago, and fewer and fewer jobs every year. Safe natural gas drilling can literally SAVE many parts of NY—as well as many other parts of the country. Mr. Price has this to say on his website:

“This issue stopped being about science and facts a long time ago,” said Price. “It has become a political monster, and my hope is that this film will transcend politics and restore basic rights to New Yorkers – to develop their land through a tried and true, safe technology.”

Mr. Price hopes to have DVDs available soon after the film debuts. I will keep you updated.

“Gas Odyssey” debuted in Binghamton NY on April 16. Please pass this article on to others and get the word out about the problems New Yorkers are facing.