Who is more powerful than industry experts? More influential than a petroleum scientist or engineer? More compelling than a filmmaker from New York City?
Around the nation, including here in Idaho, the movie “Gasland” raised questions in some people’s minds about the petroleum industry and its practices. As we have documented on this blog, the movie has been repeatedly shown to be riddled with factual errors and misleading images.
The industry finally decided to respond. A trade group funded its own project, giving a teacher from Pennsylvania creative freedom to tell her own story during a quest to separate fact from fiction. The result was a movie called “Truthland.” Here is an excerpt from the movie website:
Armed with serious questions and determined to find serious and credible answers, Shelly packs up her suitcase and hits the road for a trip across the country, making stops along the way to interview academics, environmentalists, regulators and industry experts — people who know a thing or two about the science, technology and history of producing oil and gas in America. And would you believe it? None of the experts who agreed to sit down with Shelly asked her for a dime. Which was only fair, really, since Shelly herself wasn’t paid for her time or participation either.
Interested? Here’s a trailer for the movie:
