Frack me not

The issue of hydrofrack­ing - a labo­ri­ous process of extract­ing nat­ural gas from deep wells through pres­sur­ized water injec­tion – has come to the fore­front of polit­i­cal debate in New York. Con­tribut­ing to the debate is Josh Fox, direc­tor of the 2010 doc­u­men­tary, Gasland and 2012′s The Sky is Pink, a short film that addresses the urgent issue of hydrofrack­ing in New York state.

The Sky is Pink release coin­cided with news of Gov­er­nor Cuomo’s plans to allow frack­ing in five coun­ties in the south­ern tier of New York State, although he has yet to announce a final deci­sion pub­licly. Such a move could affect the the unfil­tered, untreated water sup­ply in NYC and thus pose innu­mer­able health risks for the 8.2 mil­lion res­i­dents. The doc­u­men­tary informs view­ers about the health and envi­ron­men­tal costs of drilling and frack­ing. Fox is cur­rently work­ing on Gasland 2, which will be released before the 2012 elec­tion. Like many energy ques­tions, frack­ing will cer­tainly be an issue in the 2012 elec­toral cam­paigns, includ­ing Gov­er­nor Cuomo’s.

Click here to watch The Sky Is Pink. Gasland is also avail­able through  stream­ing on Netflix.

For more infor­ma­tion about hydrofrack­ing, check out the orga­ni­za­tions like: Shale Shock, No Frack­ing Way, New York­ers Against Frack­ing and Artists Against Frack­ing.

Image: NJ Dis­cover