Last night I watched a documentary on HBO called 'Gaslands'. It was a film that brings attention to all of the natural gas companies that drill wells (thousands and thousands of them) across our country and then in turn pollute the drinking water for those that live in the area. They then claim no responsibility and force these people to haul in pure drinking water or should the people be able to retain legal counsel the gas company will pay for their water and in turn make them sign non-disclosure contracts so they cannot speak of the issues. Most of these people cannot sell their land because it is now ruined and they are finding their health is in major danger. Head aches, vomiting, dizziness.
In the past 10 years there was a huge boom with thousands of wells being drilled all over the US... especially in Colorado and Wyoming. There is land called BLM that is essentially public land that the government has set aside for its people. The Bureau of Land Management kept this land free of drills and pipelines... that is until the Bush administration and our good friend Dick Cheney comes into power. Dick Cheney because of his position with Halliburton 'persuades' the BML to let gas companies start to drill on this land. The land is now dotted with toxic drill sites that are contaminating air, land and water. Wildlife populations are affected in the area not to mention the people that have made their life there. Their lifestyle has been greatly compromised over the last 8 years.
Isn't it interesting how many environmental disasters and pollutants seem to point right at Dick Cheney lately?? The basically non-existing emergency backup plans that should have been in place for crude oil leaks can be traced back to Cheney. He is suppose to have loosened up the regulations so the oil companies could pump more oil at unsafe levels and gee look what happened - an overloaded system exploded and there was no back up containment plan in place. The out of control gushing of oil is slowly and painfully ruining the Gulf and all those precious wetlands...and now this comes out about the natural gas and all of the drills that Cheney paved the way for. He needs to be held accountable for his actions. I was never a Bush administration fan with the type of government that he had in mind but this, this is so unacceptable. This is environmental terrorism.
Sadly, Dick Cheney will most likely never be held responsible and the gas companies will most likely not suffer either. What I hope this documentary accomplishes is just what it did for me, opens eyes and educates and makes us realize once again what we are doing to this earth and all the inhabitants. All for money. It's just gross.
To see more about the Gaslands documentary click here
