‘Gasland' arrives in Pike County

Tough issues about gas fracking at film’s panel discussion, By Anya Tikka WESTFALL — Josh Fox’s award-winning “Gasland” documentary film packed the Delaware Valley High School Auditorium on June 14 during a local viewing about this hot-button topic in the Upper Delaware River area. Fox won the Sundance film festival’s documentary Special Jury Prize for this movie, and he came personally to this showing. The film will be shown on HBO in July. Shirley Masuo of Pro-Pike-PA, the sponsoring group, said her group is for “everything that’s good for Pike County.” To that end, it is trying to bring consensus about gas drilling in the region, which she has not seen yet, although there are plenty of organizations taking sides. “Extremes are very polarizing, and nobody is really finding things in common. We would like to find that common ground,” she said. “This is important on the global level also. Who has most gas, has the most power,” she said. Gas-drilling opposition groups were on hand, and most of the audience seemed to be opposed, applauding anti-drilling comments from the five-member panel who took questions before the movie showing. No gas drilling advocates or representatives were apparent. “I called many gas companies to come to this, but they all declined, but asked where they could see the movie.” said Masuo, Who’s watching the store “It’s a lot easier to get a gas drilling permit in Pennsylvania than it’s to get a permit to build a house,” said panel member, Tracy Carluccio of the Riverkeeper Network. “Gas drilling is here,” she said. John Mellow, a professional geologist on the panel, said the industry is lobbying Harrisburg, and trade-off deals are being made for excise tax against gas drilling permits and favorable “pooling” legislation. Pooling would allow drilling horizontally under a property even if the owner hasn’t signed a lease, as long as 60% of surrounding residents agree. The lobbyists are also using campaign donations, and arguing jobs will come to the area. “We don’t know when or what is happening with the drilling,” said Mellow. “We also need to get together and lobby.” Carluccio said, “We need to regulate drilling at township level through zoning legislation There are going to be a high percentage of accidents, and the industry is not paying attention.” She drew applause in adding, “We need a complete moratorium on drilling until we get our act together (with legislation)... We need to let the Delaware River Basin Commission know that we care, we need to be vigilant. Right now 10,000 wells are planned.” Paul Lumia of the North Branch Land Trust said, “Regulations are extremely lax, but about half of people are basically okay with drilling. We need to lobby.” Diane Sigmund, a licensed psychologist, noted that those who have leased their lands are unable to sell them, property values are plummeting, and the banks are refusing to even evaluate properties with leases or give mortgages for them. “They also can’t get house insurance,” she claimed. In response to a question about eminent domain, Lumia said, “That might be coming, if they succeed in getting the public utility status that’s being worked on right now.” First hand account Alex Lotoito, an activist and the panel’s youngest member at 23, drew applause when he exclaimed, “Security would have to drag me out of here if there was a representative of a gas company here after what I saw yesterday.” He had been touring a drilling site near Pittsburg, and described what he termed appalling conditions as result of the drilling. Josh Fox introduced his movie, a one-man journey through gas drilling sites from West Virginia to Pennsylvania, with footage of barren landscapes, human and animal sickness, contaminated water, and faucet water that burned when ignited, in a house located nearing drilling. “When I came to this, I had no agenda,” Fox said, continuing, “only a gas lease coming to my dad’s house in Milanville.” He decided he needed more information, resulting in the movie. “We’re winning,” he said, referring to increasing awareness about the drilling’s potential catastrophic impacts on the environment, including contamination of ground water that supplies drinking water to New York City and millions of people along the Delaware River. The industry is exempt from the safe water act, as well as many other environmental regulations, according to the movie.