The High Cost of Cheap Gas

Filmmakers Jeffrey Barbee and Mira Dutschke's alarming documentary draws parallels between the environmental impact of hydraulic fracturing—or fracking—in American communities and in regions of Africa. In both cases, fracking invariably yields the same disastrous results: polluted and/or lowered water tables, poisoned water sources for humans and animals, toxic underground gases released into the air we breathe, and other forms of environmental devastation that fossil fuel companies perpetuate, exiting before they can be held responsible for any long-term consequences. In the U.S., fracking was exempted (through legislation signed by George W. Bush in 2005) from such federal laws as the Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act. In such places as South Africa or Botswana, however, the situation is even worse, as weak governments are trampled by energy corporations that acquire and pollute scarce drinking water resources before disappearing with their profits and leaving a mess for locals to clean up. Similar problems surround the exploitation of methane and other non-renewable energy sources. The High Cost of Cheap Gas argues that there is no clean way of extracting these resources from the Earth, and that corporate greed and cynicism will sadly prevail when it comes to issues of responsibility. Highly recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (T. Keogh)