Av Cog Tseg, the new movie starring Matt Damon, is a movie in part about fracking, the new and extremely problematic way of getting natural gas out of shale rock far below the earth’s surface. It’s a very good movie, with good acting, particularly by Damon in a very different role than, for example, his Jason Bourne trilogy. Instead of being a kick-ass former CIA assassin on a mission to reclaim his memory and the truth about what was done to him, in Cog Lus Rau Av Damon is a conflicted, conscience-stricken, corporate hot shot “land man” using bribes and threats, when necessary, to get people in a small, rural town to agree to let their town be fracked.
Tab sis cov yeeb yaj kiab tsis muaj txoj hauv kev nthuav tawm tag nrho, lossis txawm tias feem ntau, ntawm ntau yam teeb meem uas tuaj nrog fracking, tsawg dua ua li ntawd kom meej thiab ntseeg tau. Qhov teeb meem tseem ceeb uas nws muaj tam sim no yog qhov tseeb ntawm kev sib kis ntawm av thiab dej. Qhov no tshwm sim los ntawm cov tshuaj lom neeg, tov nrog dej thiab xuab zeb, uas raug yuam mus rau hauv cov shale nyob rau hauv lub siab hnyav kom tawg lub pob zeb thiab tso cov roj nyob rau hauv nws. Qee qhov kev sib xyaw tshuaj lom no rov qab los, nrog rau methane, cov khoom tseem ceeb ntawm cov pa roj carbon monoxide, thiab muaj cov xwm txheej loj ntawm cov nroj tsuag thiab tsiaj txhu tuag, tib neeg mob thiab dej lom tom qab ntawd uas yog pov thawj tseeb ntawm qhov teeb meem loj no.
But there are many more that Cog Lus Rau Av doesn’t mention, much less explain:
· fracking’s huge and growing contribution to our global heating crisis: methane is 72-105 times as powerful a greenhouse gas as CO2 over the first 20 years after it is released into the atmosphere, and studies over the past two years, including by the EPA, show that there is much more methane leakage over the lifecycle of fracked, as well as conventionally-produced, natural gas, than the oil/gas industry admits;
· constant heavy truck traffic transporting water, sand and fracking fluids that pollutes surrounding air, causes damage to roads, creates traffic congestion and noise and other negative impacts;
· the contamination of rivers close to fracking sites through either deliberate dumping of “flowback” wastewater after a well is drilled or through migration of those fluids underground;
· the drawdown of massive amounts of sometimes-scarce—as in historically dry or dought-impacted areas—nearby river and lake water, many millions of gallons per well;
· documented radiation levels in wastewater 100 or more times the EPA’s drinking water standard;
· disruption of other economically-and socially-valued industries or practices, such as agriculture, tourism, hunting and fishing;
· fragmentation of woods and forests via construction of well sites, pipelines, roads and other infrastructure;
· a decline in property values of homes and land adjacent to or near wells; and,
· earthquakes: the United States Geological Survey has reported that deep underground injection of drilling wastewater is the probable cause of a six-fold increase in earthquakes in middle America in 2011 compared to 20th century levels.
So if you are looking for a movie about all of the negatives about fracking, Cog Lus Rau Av is not the movie to watch.
Cog Lus Rau Av is in many ways more a movie about corporate power, and the ideology that undergirds it, versus the power of an informed people and the old-but-still-good values of love for family, land, home, and the truth. The energy company that Damon works for is thoroughly despicable, while the individuals who work for it, like Damon and the character played by Frances McDormand, are shown as more complex, human, less corporatist in their ideology.
Ib qho piv txwv me me tab sis qhia yog thaum ib tug tub hluas txaus siab heev txog qhov muaj peev xwm nplua nuj nws xav tias nws yuav tau txais los ntawm kev kos npe rau daim ntawv xauj tsev tsav mus rau Damon hauv lub tsheb tshiab zoo nkauj. Vim yog ib qho ua ntej, cov neeg saib yeeb yaj kiab paub tias cov nyiaj uas nws yuav tau txais los ntawm cov roj av hauv nws thaj av, yog tias muaj, tej zaum yuav tsis them rau lub tsheb no. Thaum lub sij hawm Damon tawm tsam nrog nws lub siab, thiab thaum nws saib lub tsheb kim thiab tus tub hluas koj yuav luag hnov nws npau taws, nws ua txhaum rau qhov nws tau ua.
Hal Holbrook tau ua haujlwm zoo li tus kws qhia ntawv laus thiab txawj ntse uas yog tib tus neeg hauv nroog, thaum xub thawj, paub txog qee qhov kev phom sij thiab txaus siab sawv thiab hais tawm rau pej xeem. Hmoov tsis zoo, thaum nws ua li ntawd thawj zaug, nws kuj piav txog cov roj li "huv," uas nws tsis yog kiag li. Txawm li cas los xij, nws ua lub luag haujlwm tseem ceeb hauv kev ua yeeb yaj kiab ua kom muaj kev vam meej los tawm tsam lub neej ntawm qhov chaw, hauv zej zog, ntawm qhov muaj txiaj ntsig nyob mus ib txhis tawm tsam kev xav thiab kev ntshaw-tsav kev coj noj coj ua uas tsis muaj teeb meem cuam tshuam dab tsi hauv nws txoj kev.
There’s a lot of food for thought in Cog Lus Rau Av, and I hope large numbers of people see it.
Z
Ted Glick is the National Campaign Coordinator of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. Past writings and other information can be found at http://tedglick.com, and he can be followed on twitter at http://twitter.com/jtglick.