Summary: In this podcast episode, I interview Magdalena Segieda, a director of the documentary film FrackNation. The film follows journalist Phelim McAleer on his quest to âfind the truthâ about fracking. The technology of fracking (the short-hand term for hydraulic fracturing) is a technique for extracting natural gas (methane) from shale rock formations (Iâve written about it here). Although the technique is not new (the first frackwell was drilled in 1947 in Kansas), recent advances have vastly improved the method, putting fracking on the cutting edge of natural resource extraction. But fracking is also a controversial environmental subject, and it was these controversies that Magdalena Segieda and co-directors Phelim McAleer and Ann McElhinney hoped to address in FrackNation. In the interview, Segieda explains how the documentary got its start and dives into some of the issues surrounding fracking. As she explains, FrackNation is, at least in part, a response to another documentary film on fracking: Gasland. In Gaslandâs most memorable scene, narrator and guide Josh Fox visits a Colorado man who claims that his well water supply was polluted with methane from a natural gas well drilled nearby. Standing over the kitchen sink, the two take turns lighting methane on fire as it flows along with the water from the tap. It is dramatic, sensational documentary filmmaking. But according to FrackNation, Josh Fox only told part of the story. In FrackNation, journalist Phelim McAleer confronts Josh Fox with some facts he has uncovered about naturally occurring methane in the water supply (donât worry, youâll be able to see all of the juicy details in the film). In the podcast, Segieda explains what Josh Fox left out and why it was important to combat the image of the flaming faucet. Segieda and her co-directors didnât want the image of the flaming faucet to stand in the publicâs mind as a representation of fracking, especially when the technology is critically necessary to bring energy to people in the United States and other countries of the world, such as Poland, where Segieda grew up. In the podcast, Segieda shares some of her experiences growing up in a nation where energy was âexpensive and intermittentâ and tells how those experiences caused her to see energy issues the way she does. Click below to listen to the interview! Image credit: Rick Harris via Compfight
