Gasland Part II

Two years after the first Gasland, Josh Fox returns to the argument over hydraulic fracturing. This time he sets a wider file alongside the stories at the wellhead: local earthquakes, the relationship between regulators and the industry, families made to sign non-disclosure agreements, and the communications work the industry runs against its critics. The film takes direct aim at the claim that natural gas is a transition fuel. The other side of the argument is on the record too. On the flaming faucet, the best-known image from the first film, Colorado state regulators concluded that the methane in the wells concerned was biogenic in origin and could not be attributed to oil and gas activity. Energy in Depth, an initiative backed by the petroleum industry association, published a detailed rebuttal of the film, while Fox defended his findings and his method. The documentary is openly an argument for one side; the dispute itself is still running.