What the Frack is Going On?

  I recently saw a 2008 documentary film,"Gasland."  It was a real eye-opener about how the Gas Industry is polluting our underground water sources.  In their pursuit of "cheap" natural gas reserves they are literally devastating the underground ecosystem that supports fragile aquifers and pristine wells that supply drinking water for American citizens.

  Since no one can actually "see" underground, the Drilling Offensive is taking place right under our noses, and in our faucets, so tainted that one can light a match to watch water burn!  Gas companies claim no responsibility or privately set up huge water cisterns to the places they disturb, delivering thousands of gallons of drinking water to towns, whose wells have been putrefied with contaminants.  In other areas they coerce citizens to "lease their land, or lose it" to Eminent Domain.

   With much disgust and dismay, the Gas Industry has polluted again and again.  They have lied over and over, and now they are pumping millions of gallons of chemically-laced toxins and carcinogens with this new process, "fracking."  Miles underground they cause mini-earthquakes, filling the sites with poisonous slurry to coax out the natural gases.  Methane leaks out and is a number one destroyer of the earth's sensitive ozone layer.  The Gas Companies then pump out 60% of the toxic compounds with thousands of gallons of water, leaving 40% lodged underground to seep into the surrounding soils and into underground aquifers, affecting all life forms. They dump the polluted water in streams and lakes with impunity. 
    Pennsylvania has just signed a law requiring doctors to sign an Oath of Silence, not to inform which harmful chemicals are being introduced into the environment of their patients.  The water we drink from the ground will not be safe in the hands of greedy oil companies exploiting fracking to sell compressed natural gas- at the dire expense of American taxpayer's health.  I urge you to watch, "Gasland," and to take action with your governmental representatives to protect our vital land and water resources from underground pollution. The inhumane practices espoused by Corporate Oil interests must go.
Stop Fracking Now!
 The above Oil Painting is 18" x 24"  and is aptly titled, "Fracking." by Johnathon Gallagher ,
 March 2012
  *** This painting won first prize ribbon in the Honors Division at the Burbank Art Association's Spring Show - Geosystems Gallery in Glendale, CA.  May 15- June 15th 2012.

  Folks, I am shocked to say I rented, "Gasland 2," the follow-up to the first documentary on fracking.
It is unbelievable that enormity of wells that have been drilled in the intervening years.  Literally thousands.  More details are given and the chemicals used to leech out natural gas are known carcinogens.
  California has recently put a ban on all fracking in our state.  Pennsylvania is now a big state that is supporting the joys of fracking, at the expense of their environment.  This film was even more disturbing because curbs and deadlines were set, and not met, yet go unpunished by law.  The power and money of big oil has waged a war on the control of destroying the underground filtration system, and polluting more and more severely.  It inspired me to create this animated painting.  What seems lovely on the outside is actually hiding sinister elements underneath its surface, where pipes ooze rust, and trust is thrust asunder.  Stop Fracking Now!  JJG