Fracking Mythbusters

Fracking Mythbusters

Though fracking produces enough oil to take a big chunk out of the U.S. trade deficit, it is under unrelenting attack. We’ll look at the truth of the allegations. ...
Bob Adelmann

Myths become reality only when they are left unchallenged. There are so many myths, half-truths, misstatements, and distortions about the issue of fracking that one scarcely knows where to begin. The most egregious is the falsehood that “you can light your tap water on fire because of fracking.”

This canard first saw the light of day in Gasland, a propaganda piece produced by Josh Fox and funded and supported by various extremist members and groups affiliated with the environmental movement. Early in the film, Fox showed a flaming faucet belonging to Weld County, Colorado, homeowner Mike Markham. In that segment, when a lighted match touched water flowing from his kitchen faucet, it virtually exploded into flame.

Not mentioned in that sequence, however, was that Markham knew about his flaming faucet well before Fox showed up on his doorstep with his cameramen and that he also knew that it had nothing to do with any development of oil or natural gas near his property. Fox failed to mention that Markham had earlier asked representatives from Colorado’s Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) to come out and survey his water. Fox also failed to include results from the COGCC upon completion of their analysis, as quoted by the commission:

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