FrackNation Page #6

where Putin really became

quite engaged, almost agitated.

And he said, if you look

at photographs

which have been taken from

a helicopter or a plane

of where this has been done

in the U.S.,

you can see the damage.

And he essentially said,

when people in Europe understand

the implications of this technology

and what it does

to the environment,

then they're not gonna want to do it.

And therefore, it's not

gonna be a threat to us.

And they point to France,

which has already banned it

and say that's just

the first one of many.

And this is somewhat

amusing that suddenly

Russia finds its conscience

about the environment.

At the moment all the countries

in Eastern Europe

are hugely dependent on Russia.

They have very few domestic

resources of their own.

And the European market is the

absolutely crucial market for Gazprom

because that's where it makes

the bulk of its profit.

And of course Putin himself

has very close ties with Gazprom.

In fact, I would say that Russia is

screwed if it can't export its gas,

so it really is very important

for Russia

that the shale gas revolution

does not happen.

It is also in Russia's interest

to fund those environmental

groups which are committed

to campaigning against fracking.

That's how it works.

I'll give you one example.

Poland is currently

a net importer of gas.

Where does that gas come from?

It comes from Russia.

The problem with relying

on Russia for gas

is that Russia now has

a proven history

of using gas as a kind of tool,

or rather blunt instrument

of diplomacy.

A natural gas crisis

looming over Europe

has taken a sharp turn

for the worse.

A contract dispute between

Russia and Ukraine

has left several cities without

natural gas in the dead of winter.

Without prior warning, gas supplies

to some EU member states

have been substantially cut.

This situation is

completely unacceptable.

Even in the Cold War, Russia

never cut off gas supplies to Europe,

but under Mr. Putin they have

twice done so in recent years.

So the prospect of

becoming gas producers

for these countries is

a very attractive one indeed.

You go to Poland,

you hear a lot about it.

In Warsaw,

the huge Soviet block houses

are a very concrete reminder

of the grip

Russia has had on Poland

for centuries.

But even though their troops

are no longer on Polish soil,

as the main supplier of

most of the country's gas,

Russia still controls

the Polish people.

I met up with Sabina, a pensioner

who fought in World War II

and survived the Cold War.

Today she spends half

her pension on energy,

and that money goes to Gazprom.

It's like the Soviets never left.

So that's your gas?

Three-hundred and seventy-seven.

Your electricity is 266.

Your pension is 800.

So, your pension is 800.

Your electricity bill is 266.

Your gas bill is 377.

It doesn't leave much money.

How do you feel

when the gas bill comes?

But anti-fracking activists

like Josh Fox

say economic prosperity

counts for nothing

if you don't have your health.

I want to tell you that I got a call

from Chris Payne,

the amazing director of

Who Killed the Electric Car

and The Revenge

of the Electric Car.

And he said, "They're

fracking in Baldwin Hills."

It's like over the...

over the... bend from me.

And there's a big public park

over there.

So you have a little kid, Little League,

playing in noxious fumes

that we experienced today,

gave us quite, you know,

immediate headaches and nausea

from being in the park.

I live in Los Angeles.

And this is the first time I've heard

of people getting sick

in Baldwin Hills.

After coming up to the top

of Baldwin Hills Overlook

and going back down,

finishing my workout, I feel great.

It's wonderful, fresh.

You can really rejuvenate yourself.

It's just fresh air. You can breathe

good, you know what I mean?

It's fresh, it feels clean,

like you're close to heaven.

The air quality is great.

Every time I come here

I almost feel like I can fly

just like Superman!

And Josh Fox makes the same kind

of dramatic claims

about Dish, Texas.

They have 10 billion cubic feet going

through Dish, Texas every day

with 10 pipelines that

crisscross the state.

And they have benzene in the air

at 55 times the public

health standard.

And they have toxic emissions

that float into people's homes,

give them nosebleeds in the middle of

the night, give them brain damage.

And Calvin Tillman's two sons

are waking up in the middle

of the night with nosebleeds.

Calvin Tillman has been

the mayor of Dish for three years.

He says the people in the town

began to notice a strong odor

and were also experiencing

some side effects

that he attributes

to the air quality,

things like nausea, headaches,

runny nose, allergies, and more.

Calvin Tillman was so frustrated

with the TCEQ's inaction

that he commissioned

his own air study.

The results read sort of like

the back of a pamphlet

that you don't want to pick up

at the American Cancer Society.

Study found, and I quote,

"Amazing and very high levels

of known and suspected human

carcinogens and neurotoxins."

But were these claims true?

The Texas Commission on

Environmental Quality

is the second largest environmental

agency in the world behind the EPA.

We've been to Dish I believe

over 120 times

on individual sampling trips

or monitoring trips

and collected over 50

VOC canisters,

which we ran through

a gas chromatograph.

And I'm happy to say that

of all of those samples

that we've conducted

and collected and analyzed,

none of those exceeded the

short-term concentration levels

that would cause concern.

After the air quality

was given the all-clear,

the health department sampled

blood, urine,

and drinking water in the area

and found no problems

caused by fracking.

So it's comforting to see we have

a great deal of data from Dish

and from the Barnett shale region

that shows that indeed

our regulations are protective,

especially when you consider

that it's such a concentrated

production field in that area.

But some people still claim

that fracking contaminated

their water and made them sick,

like Stephen Lipsky

from Parker County, Texas.

He sued for Range Resources

for $6.5 million.

Lipsky teamed up with Alisa Rich of

Wolf Eagle Environmental Engineers

to produce a video

of flaming water

and a set of test results supporting

his case against the gas company.

But the video was faked.

They intentionally pumped gas

into the water line

in order to set it on fire.

The judge ruled

that Stephen Lipsky

and Alisa Rich had conspired

to produce false evidence,

and Alisa Rich's claims that

she was an engineer and had a PhD

were also fraudulent.

In line 13 it says, "I have a PhD

in air pollution control design."

- Do you see that?

- I do, sir.

That was just not a true statement

at the time you made that, was it?

That was a misstatement.

- You are not an engineer, are you?

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