Pennsylvania

Energy. Environment. Economy.

Topics

83rd Annual Academy Awards - Arrivals

Josh Fox: Muckraker or Propagandist?

View All Topics »

Background

Getty Images

Josh Fox at the Acad­emy Awards

Josh Fox is a promi­nent oppo­nent of nat­ural gas drilling and hydraulic frac­tur­ing. His anti-drilling doc­u­men­tary, Gasland, was nom­i­nated for an Acad­emy Award in 2011.

 

Fox began film­ing the movie when drillers approached him about leas­ing out his family’s north­east­ern Penn­syl­va­nia land.

Gasland has become a ral­ly­ing point for anti-drilling activists, and energy com­pa­nies have mounted an aggres­sive pub­lic rela­tions cam­paign against the film,  ques­tioned its fac­tual basis.

Fox has remained at the fore­front of the anti-drilling fight, and led a sit-in protest at Gov­er­nor Corbett’s office in June 2011. He’s report­edly film­ing a sequel to the film.


Latest News

January 11, 2012

Polamalu’s Gasland Post Leads To Facebook Frenzy

Steel­ers safety Troy Pola­malu recently learned what we here at StateIm­pact have known for a long time: the issue of nat­ural gas drilling sparks pas­sion­ate debate. The Post-Gazette recounts what hap­pened last month, when Pola­malu listed the anti-fracking doc­u­men­tary “Gasland” as one of his favorite movies. The Pola­malu Face­book page was sud­denly home to a […]

December 19, 2011

Flaming Taps: Methane Migration and the Fracking Debate

One of the most iconic sym­bols of the frack­ing debate is the video of a man set­ting his tap water on fire in Col­orado. Frack­ing, which refers to hydraulic frac­tur­ing, is a tech­nique used to extract nat­ural gas, and has become syn­ony­mous with all things gas drilling. It involves shoot­ing water, sand and a mix […]

December 7, 2011

Protests and Counter Protests Come to Dimock

For some­one like Ray Kem­ble, liv­ing with a water buf­falo means not tak­ing a shower for four days if the water deliv­ery is late. Or keep­ing the win­dow in his bath­room open while he does take a shower because the level of chlo­rine is so high. Kem­ble lives in Dimock, and says he can’t safely […]

December 6, 2011

The Latest On Dimock Protests

StateImpact’s Susan Phillips spent the day in Dimock, Susque­hanna County, cov­er­ing anti-drilling protests. She spoke to WHYY’s News­works Tonight about what hap­pened, when Josh Fox and other “frac­tivists” arrived with a truck of clean water. The drilling oppo­nents, which also included actor Mark Ruf­falo, were there to protest the Depart­ment of Envi­ron­men­tal Protection’s recent deci­sion allowing […]

December 2, 2011

A Bad PR Week For Cabot

It hasn’t been a ban­ner week for Cabot Oil and Gas, as far as PR is con­cerned. Here’s a quick review. A few days ago, the Asso­ci­ated Press reported the com­pany has stopped pro­vid­ing 11 Susque­hanna County res­i­dents with drink­ing water: Houston-based Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. plans to end deliv­ery of bulk and bot­tled water […]

October 19, 2011

Will Dimock Be the New ‘Alamo’ for Fracking Foes?

Dimock, Pa., res­i­dents and sup­port­ers are plan­ning an emer­gency meet­ing in response to the announce­ment by the Depart­ment of Envi­ron­men­tal Pro­tec­tion that Cabot Oil and Gas no longer has to deliver water to res­i­dents. From the AP: Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. has been deliv­er­ing water to homes in the north­east vil­lage of Dimock since January […]

October 7, 2011

DRBC Delays Action on Natural Gas Regulations Again

The Delaware River Basin Com­mis­sion has post­poned their spe­cial meet­ing on draft nat­ural gas reg­u­la­tions for the sec­ond time. The DRBC had orig­i­nally planned to take up the pro­posal at its reg­u­larly sched­uled meet­ing in Sep­tem­ber. But then the Com­mis­sion announced a spe­cial meet­ing for Octo­ber 21. A mora­to­rium on drilling in the Delaware river basin […]

September 15, 2011

Fox’s “Gasland” Wins Emmy Award

Two days after he urged anti-fracking pro­test­ers to employ civil dis­obe­di­ence in their fight against frack­ing, film­maker Josh Fox donned a tux and accepted an Emmy Award for “out­stand­ing direct­ing.” “Wait,” you may ask. “Wasn’t Gasland a movie?” It was — in fact it was nom­i­nated for an Acad­emy Award. But since the doc­u­men­tary aired on HBO, as well, […]

September 7, 2011

Outside Marcellus Shale Coalition’s Conference, Chants of “Shut Them Down”

As energy exec­u­tives met inside the Philadel­phia Con­ven­tion Center’s car­peted, air-conditioned halls this after­noon, anti-drilling activists braved the heat and humid­ity to deliver a clear, loud mes­sage: don’t frack with us. Sev­eral hun­dred peo­ple lined a street next to the con­ven­tion cen­ter to protest hydraulic frac­tur­ing – they’re wor­ried the poi­so­nous chem­i­cals drillers are inject­ing deep […]

September 6, 2011

4 Things To Watch For At The Marcellus Shale Coalition’s Philadelphia Conference

chesapeake2

If you’re any­one who has any­thing to do with drilling for nat­ural gas in Pennsylvania’s Mar­cel­lus Shale, then you’ll likely be at the Philadel­phia Con­ven­tion Cen­ter on Tues­day and Wednes­day. The drilling industry’s top trade group, the Mar­cel­lus Shale Coali­tion, is host­ing “Shale Gas Insight,” a two-day con­fer­ence “that will offer abun­dant oppor­tu­ni­ties for industry […]

About StateImpact

StateImpact seeks to inform and engage local communities with broadcast and online news focused on how state government decisions affect your lives.
Learn More »

Education