8. Gasland - Josh Fox
Fracking hell there were some fibs in this. On the whole Gasland is a compelling, award-winning documentary which exposes the experience of certain small-town, U.S communities to natural gas drilling (fracking) on their lands. Its also a brilliant personal reaction and a wonderful example of guerrilla filmmaking. For when Josh Fox received an unexpected offer of $100,000 for the natural gas drilling rights to his property in Delaware, he resisted the urge to take the money and instead made a documentary about it all. Unfortunately, he didnt care too much about things like facts. Foxs great narrative thrust is that oil companies are offering quick pay-offs to drill or frack peoples land since they are exempt by the U.S government from most basic health and environmental considerations. They can, and are, polluting the soil at will, Fox alleges. The most iconic and memorable part of the film is also the most blatantly false. For, as a display into the sheer extent of frackings disastrous consequences, water taps are set on fire by landowner Mike Markham. The conclusion offered is that the flaming tap water is a result of all this fracking for natural gas. The Colorado Oil and Gas Commission later tested the water and found no oil-related problem in Markhams water however. Gasland will forever be associated with this scene. The rumour which Gasland propagated that fracking would cause your water to catch fire was a blatant, absolute lie.
Even Foxs claim he was offered $100,000 dollars for his familys land has been refuted by the company in question, Energy in Depth. The company has created a webpage dedicated to debunking the documentary.