Don’t Frack Me, Bro Review

Don’t Frack Me, Bro is a documentary about the destructive effects of the process of fracking, The process could be defined as “hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”), a procedure used in the extraction of natural gas and oil, may pollute ground and surface waters” (Manuel 2010). This process has been widely criticized by environmentalists. The amateur documentary is poorly put together as it is uses mainly clip art style imagery paired with strange music with the narrator speaking over it. However, the documentary needs to be judged not on its artistic quality but the accuracy of its examination of fracking and its effects on water. The documentarian describes the steps oil men take to secure the land for the fracking process, the reduction of quality of life in the areas where fracking occur and the pollution of water.

The documentary describes the ways in which oil men go about obtaining the rights to frack near residential lands for a process called slick water high volume horizontal fracking. The documentary makes the claim that these oil men provided no informed consent, lies and made false promises in order to be able to secure the rights to the land. The use of the claim in the documentary is highly speculative and no proof is provided that these oil men engaged in these practices. The documentary does a better job when it sticks to the facts such as its description of the way in which the fracking process is expanding to multiple states in the United States such as Texas, California, Alaska, Wyoming, and Pennsylvania.

The documentary goes on to describe the disastrous environmental and quality of life effects of the fracking process. The documentary is at its best when it's discussing the water effects of fracking. The documentary discusses how fracking is destroying the current water supply that exists, while also leaking out into the ocean. Fracking leads to the pollutions of already existing fresh water supplies. The documentarian describes how clean water needs to be trucked in to replenish the water that is polluted. The documentary does a good job of discussing the environmental impact of this as over 300 gallons of water are being polluted and pumped away by the oil industry. The pollutions of water have been supported by research. “In a study of 68 private drinking water wells in northeastern Pennsylvania and New York, methane contamination rose sharply with proximity to natural gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) sites (Holzman, 2011). The documentary stumbles when it begins to discuss the gag order that is placed on individuals by the oil companies to not discuss the polluted water. When discussing this the documentary begins to go into conspiracy theory territory as facts are not provided regarding the oil industry’s attempts to silence people.

The documentary also does a good job of discussing the long term effects fracking has on the water cycle as it discusses the ways in which fracking removes about 2/3 of water from the water cycle permanently. He portrays the disastrous impact of this as he discusses how the loss of water could lead to desert-like dead zones all over the United States. He also discusses how fracking can destroy aquifers which provide clean water to 100,000 people at a time. If these aquifers are polluted he discusses the disastrous impact it could have as without aquifers life cannot be sustained.

The documentary does a good job of discussing the issue however it could have been expanded even more by providing some steps that could be undertaken to defeat the process. As Mooney discusses advanced testing is needed to determine the actual effects of fracking which have not been conducted (2011). The documentarian should advocate for steps such as completing more testing or voicing your opinion to the politicians who allow fracking to occur. By providing possible solutions the documentary could have been taken further.

References

Billhuston. (2010). Don’t Frack Me, Bro. Retrieved 12/7/12 from <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ia7gdDjSVz8&list=UU0WwAlW0lp-wrnVWtQx6CcQ&index=9>

Holzman, D. C. (2011). Methane found in well water near fracking sites.Environmental Health Perspectives, 119(7), a289.

Manuel, J. (2010). Mining: EPA tackles fracking. Environmental health perspectives, 118(5), A199. Mooney, C. (2011). The truth about fracking. Scientific American, 305(5), 80-85