It is happening all across America-rural landowners wake up one day to find a lucrative offer from an energy company wanting to lease their property. Reason? The company hopes to tap into a reservoir dubbed the "Saudi Arabia of natural gas." Halliburton developed a way to get the gas out of the ground-a hydraulic drilling process called "fracking"-and suddenly America finds itself on the precipice of becoming an energy superpower.
Direction
Fox's DIY aesthetic makes corporate evil feel terrifyingly personal.
Production
Shot on shoestring budget; every flaming faucet hits harder.
Director
Josh Fox
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This film basically invented 'fracking' as a household dirty word. Before 2010, most Americans had never heard it; after, it became environmental movement shorthand for corporate poison.
The gas industry tried so hard to debunk the flaming water that they accidentally proved some faucets really do ignite—just 'naturally occurring methane,' they claimed. Fox's follow-up 'Gasland Part II' documents the harassment campaign against him.
US
