WEBVTT

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[peaceful folk music]

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♪ ♪

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- We bought 40 acres in 1993

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and decided it would be a great place
to finally build a home and retire.

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- I am fifth generation.

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My great-great-grandfather
homesteaded here.

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Let\'s go.

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Let\'s go.

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The gate\'s that way.

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Let\'s go.

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What are you waiting on, Maya?

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Sara, go on.

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Go on.

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- We have 300 head of elk
that come down out of the high country.

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They\'re incredibly beautiful.

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- I\'m a fourth generation rancher.

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When I was little, dad would let me
have two cows out of the herd

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so I could have my own herd.

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- One of my favorite things
is the redwing blackbirds,

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and then it\'s usually,

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\"Honey, honey, the redwing
blackbirds are back,\" you know.

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This has been my favorite place
I\'ve ever lived in my life, I must say.

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- This, representatives,
is on your watch.

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- People have called and complained
to every regulatory...

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- The house and senate considered
legislation today

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directing President Bush...

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- Today\'s witnesses represent
oil companies

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that have made more than
$36 billion in profits.

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- $120 a barrel.

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Now is not the time for...

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- There she is.

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[laughs]

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We call it our new neighbor.

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Neighbor 907.

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- We are in a split estate situation
where we own the surface

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and someone else
owns the mineral rights.

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And what happens in Colorado,

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and I think in most
western states is,

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the mineral rights are dominant.

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- The law on mineral extraction
goes back hundreds of years

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that says the mineral owner
has a right to extract that mineral

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and to a certain extent,
can extract it

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and impact the surface
without compensation.

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- We have 70 acres here,

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and I can\'t convince them
that they need to drill somewhere

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besides 200 feet from our house.

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- The energy policy has been
to drill, drill, drill,

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and drill some more.

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- They\'re a very strong industry.

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They\'ve got a tremendous amount
of political influence

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and an awful lot of money.

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- As a civil servant,
I spoke out,

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but it\'s difficult to do so,

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because you feel constantly
that you\'re risking your job

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and your family\'s future.

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- Oh, yeah, it burns.

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- Yeah, I\'d say.

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- As I sat there and looked out my window
into my backyard,

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all I could think was,

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\"There\'s no way I can
stay out of this.

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\"I\'m sitting here with
all of the right resources.

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These people need help.\"

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- This is before any problems,
before we lived in Rifle.

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And then everything changed.

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- [groans]

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- They\'re motivated by profits,

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and unfortunately,
they\'re motivated by short-term profits.

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They don\'t take the long view.

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- A couple of times I said,
\"You come out here and live.

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You come out here
and live in my house for a week.\"

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I have no rights.

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- The Rocky Mountains are seeing
an unprecedented boom

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in oil and gas drilling.

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Montana, Wyoming, Colorado,
New Mexico, Utah,

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the boom is happening
all over the country.

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There is oil and gas operations
in 32 states right now,

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but the Rocky Mountain states
are really seeing

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the vast majority of the expansion,

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and it\'s overflowing into communities

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where people are seeing this
right in their backyards.

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- I\'ll show you where they
wanted to put this location,

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one of the first places
that they wanted to put it.

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- They just surprise you and say,

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\"We have to put a well out there,\"

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and you don\'t have any say in it.

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- A split estate situation

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is when somebody who owns
the surface of their land

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does not own the resources
that are underneath their land,

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for example, oil and gas
or other minerals.

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A private person could own
a house with land,

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and the federal government
or another private individual

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might own the resources under it.

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The person who owns
the oil and gas has rights

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to access that oil and gas,

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which means
that whoever owns the surface

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probably can\'t control what happens
on their own property.

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- All of a sudden,
I\'d just find new stakes

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out in the middle
of my alfalfa field.

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I believe this stake represent
their outer boundary of their pad.

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Just guessing it would be about
200 feet from our house,

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which is awful close.

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- \'Cause we say,
\"We don\'t want the smell,\"

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and they say, \"Well, I\'d rather smell
a gas well than livestock.\"

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And I said, \"You\'re crazy.\"

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I said, \"You can\'t get sick
from smelling livestock.\"

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- You feel so helpless,
you know.

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- The split estate is a concept
that dates back

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to when the English king
reserved his rights

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to gold and silver deposits,
despite who owned the land.

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As America was homesteaded,

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the government continued the tradition
of this kind of separate ownership.

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- Don\'t believe for one minute
that anything is off limits.

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150 feet away from your house,

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one and a half times
the length of the derrick,

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so if it falls over,
it won\'t hit your house.

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We see this look
on people\'s faces.

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They get that look and they say,
\"Well, wait a minute.

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\"That can\'t be right.

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That\'s not fair;
that can\'t be.\"

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But it is.

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That\'s the way it is.

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- This is an active drilling rig
near a small house

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showing just how close
the two can be

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and how large the pad is.

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During drilling,
a site can cover several acres

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before it is reduced
to a smaller pad

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for the producing well.

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Today, with cries for more
domestic oil and gas production,

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energy companies have been
aggressively leasing mineral rights

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so that they can drill beneath
both private and public lands

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all over
the Rocky Mountain west.

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- This industry
has been expanding dramatically,

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tens of thousands of new wells
across the region.

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In Colorado alone
we\'ve had about 30,000 wells,

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and we expect another 30,000
in the next five or six years.

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- For decades,
the oil and gas industry has lobbied

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to create a regulatory climate

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which has paved the way
for the current drilling boom.

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Back in 2000,
after the Bush/Cheney election,

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there was a dramatic acceleration
in drilling activity.

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Both had received large contributions
from oil and gas interests,

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and the vice president had been
the chief executive of Halliburton,

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a major player
in the drilling industry.

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- Meeting the needs
of our growing economy

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also means expanding our domestic
production of oil and natural gas,

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which are vital fuels for transportation,
electricity, and manufacturing.

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- Whatever our hopes for
developing alternative sources

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and for conserving energy -

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and that\'s part of our plan -

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the reality is that fossil fuels
supply virtually 100%

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of our transportation needs.

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- Hello.

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- Many democrats fought the
Bush/Cheney energy policies.

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They felt they were shut out
of the process

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of developing the nation\'s
approach to energy.

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- This administration is a gas
and oil administration, frankly,

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and so they\'re - they\'re wedded
to an old policy.

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They\'re wedded
to a 20th-century policy

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when we need
a 21st-century policy.

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- You have the Bush
administration.

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You have two oil men
at the very top,

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and they aren\'t sympathetic.

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- They\'re making
very serious mistakes

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because they\'ve talked to themselves
and the energy companies

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and only themselves
and the energy companies.

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- We don\'t know what other provisions
may have been added in,

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special interest provisions
that are easy to add in

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when you\'re writing
one of these bills in secret.

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- In 2005, the administration\'s
energy bill passed

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with support from members
of both political parties.

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It provided the gas and oil industry
with billions of dollars

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in subsidies, tax breaks,
and research money.

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- 65% of the current subsidies
go to gas and oil,

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and you have this imbalance.

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We ought to have 65% or more,

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80% ought to be going
to alternative renewable technology,

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to energy efficiency.

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- The energy bill
makes practical reforms

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to the oil and gas
permitting process

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to encourage new exploration.

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After years of debate
and division,

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Congress passed a good bill.

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- It all began here for us 25 years ago
when my husband moved here.

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Then I moved here 18 years ago.

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Orlyn and I were married
in 1988.

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I was a pharmaceutical chemist
for many years.

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My husband is a civil engineer
with a specialty in water,

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and he is retired.

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- You want to go see
a nest up here?

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Birds fly up out of the field,

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and if you\'re real careful -

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and one year I had
a half a dozen or so bird nests

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that I was keeping tabs on.

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Right here is the nest.

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Now that happens to be
a meadowlark.

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There\'s five eggs in there,
kind of gray and speckled.

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- A few years ago,
we ran into some real problems

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with the oil and gas industry,

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because they have begun
drilling here.

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EnCana Oil and Gas contacted us
in the early spring of 2004

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with the proposal that they
would put wells on our land,

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and we began negotiating
a surface use agreement with them,

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and we negotiated
for nine months,

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and the bulldozers showed up
one day

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and began ripping and tearing before we
had signed a surface use agreement.

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- Regulations require that oil
and gas companies

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consult with landowners
before drilling.

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It the landowner doesn\'t agree
to the terms the company proposes,

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it can post a bond
with the state,

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go onto the land,
and drill anyway.

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That\'s what happened
to the Bells.

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- We were told that
they didn\'t owe us anything.

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We were just finished.

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I suppose you want to go,
too, huh?

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Once they bonded on,

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they began putting a pipeline in
across about five of our hay fields.

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They drilled four wells.

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These are the two
condensate-produced water tanks.

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The natural gas is immediately
piped into a pipeline

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that goes across our fields,

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and so it\'s sent off
into the pipeline

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off to either Chicago
or Los Angeles.

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- When we purchased, I asked the seller
about the mineral rights,

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and he said he didn\'t have them to sell.

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- 85% of landowners in Colorado
do not own the rights

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to the minerals under their land.

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- Until you get on
the federal property,

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I think it is private interests

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that own the mineral rights
all through here.

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Once you get onto the forest
or BLM,

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then, of course,
it\'s the government.

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- This is KCFR News.

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In Mesa and Garfield Counties,

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new oil and gas drilling permits have...

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- While some Colorado counties
have unsuccessfully tried

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to assert local control...

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- Increasing tensions between
operators and landowners.

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- Garfield County,
located high in the Colorado Rockies,

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was always a quiet,
rural area for its residents.

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But in the 1990s,
things started to change.

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Gas and oil drilling
began to boom

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and development has expanded
dramatically each year.

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- When I first came to Colorado
27 years ago,

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the energy production
was for oil,

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and at the time that there was
the Synthetic Fuels Corporation,

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and it was all about oil shale.

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Natural gas, they didn\'t have
pipelines for it,

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and so they were trying
to figure out what to do

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with all the natural gas.

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They knew there was a lot,

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but there was no use for it
at the time.

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Now, natural gas is the biggest thing
that\'s going on in western Colorado.

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- Colorado is a mining state.

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It has been a mining state.

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It opened up during the gold mine,
Gold Rush days,

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and there are old mines -
gold mines, silver mines -

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all over Colorado.

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Behind us is the old
Mid-Continent Resources coal mine.

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But this is typical of what mining
in Colorado used to look like,

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a fairly intense
but a small site,

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whereas what\'s being done now
is on a much, much larger scale.

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- This is all EnCana leases in here,

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and across the road
is Bill Barrett Corporation.

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Over there they\'re on
ten-acre spacing.

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From here, if you knew
what you were looking for

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and you knew how many wells
were on pads,

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I bet you could see 300,
400 wells.

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You\'re standing right over
a pipeline right here by the way.

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Right where we\'re standing,
we had a spill.

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You can just see
over my head here.

00:14:50.267 --> 00:14:53.133
We\'ve got the neighbor\'s wells,

00:14:53.167 --> 00:14:55.567
I don\'t know, three,
four of them over there,

00:14:55.600 --> 00:14:59.800
and that stack closest to us
blew one day.

00:14:59.833 --> 00:15:04.100
It looked like Old Faithful
had shot off over there.

00:15:04.133 --> 00:15:10.500
- The separator spewed paraffin
out all over the pad

00:15:10.533 --> 00:15:14.667
and on over into a good number
of acres of our pasture,

00:15:14.700 --> 00:15:18.133
and that paraffin was laced
with BTEX chemicals,

00:15:18.167 --> 00:15:20.667
hydrocarbons of various kinds.

00:15:20.700 --> 00:15:25.333
- We were concerned that it
would contaminate in the ditch,

00:15:25.367 --> 00:15:28.267
and the grasses were heavy and dry
and what not,

00:15:28.300 --> 00:15:31.900
so we just burned the ditch
and the hydrocarbons along with it

00:15:31.933 --> 00:15:34.000
so we wouldn\'t get it
in our ditch water.

00:15:45.767 --> 00:15:47.900
- I think they\'ll go
straight over the hill.

00:15:47.933 --> 00:15:48.933
You can see where they -

00:15:48.967 --> 00:15:50.833
- Hey, we\'re going that way!

00:15:50.867 --> 00:15:52.933
- We\'ll put \'em south of the pond.

00:15:52.967 --> 00:15:57.333
Once you get on top of the hill,
baja a ver adónde están las otras.

00:15:57.367 --> 00:16:05.367
My great-grandfather came
to this valley probably about 1845.

00:16:05.800 --> 00:16:10.100
And the Ute Indians
had captured this young girl.

00:16:10.133 --> 00:16:13.167
Whoa, settle down.

00:16:13.200 --> 00:16:17.267
My great-grandfather bought this girl
and later married her.

00:16:17.300 --> 00:16:21.433
She was Cochiti,
which would make us half Spanish

00:16:21.467 --> 00:16:24.500
and half Native Americans.

00:16:25.667 --> 00:16:31.100
I have over 100,000 acres
of ranch land on my permit.

00:16:31.133 --> 00:16:34.233
When I used to come up here
with my dad

00:16:34.267 --> 00:16:38.467
in the late \'40s, early \'50s,

00:16:38.500 --> 00:16:42.933
there wasn\'t a single -
not even one, oil and gas well.

00:16:42.967 --> 00:16:45.000
Now there\'s -

00:16:45.033 --> 00:16:47.667
I mean, you can\'t even count them,
there\'s so many.

00:16:57.300 --> 00:17:02.533
- Conoco Phillips operates about
10,000 wells here in the basin,

00:17:02.567 --> 00:17:07.767
which is an incredible number of wells
to try and manage on a daily basis

00:17:07.800 --> 00:17:11.233
and so, as a simple example,
we do well reviews

00:17:11.267 --> 00:17:13.267
and look at what our wells
should be delivering.

00:17:13.300 --> 00:17:16.767
If we spend five minutes per well,

00:17:16.800 --> 00:17:21.667
it takes about nine months
to go through that process.

00:17:21.700 --> 00:17:26.200
- Everything below us down here
is Armenta Canyon.

00:17:26.233 --> 00:17:29.167
So if you can get up
on the big Harris Mesa benches,

00:17:29.200 --> 00:17:35.900
those benches are just littered with wells,
approximately 500 all total.

00:17:36.700 --> 00:17:39.800
And now with the new well
spacings that they approved,

00:17:39.833 --> 00:17:43.567
they will go from about 500
to about 1,500

00:17:43.600 --> 00:17:45.833
within the next 20 years.

00:17:45.867 --> 00:17:50.800
- We drill, it averages about
350 new wells per year.

00:17:50.833 --> 00:17:53.367
When you take the Colorado side
and include that,

00:17:53.400 --> 00:17:57.633
we think that Conoco Phillips
has probably another 10,000 wells

00:17:57.667 --> 00:18:02.367
that we will drill in the basin
over the next 40 years, say.

00:18:02.400 --> 00:18:06.500
- The sharply increased drilling
on Gilbert Armenta\'s ranch

00:18:06.533 --> 00:18:12.133
is typical of what has happened to
vast expanses of Northern New Mexico land.

00:18:12.167 --> 00:18:15.000
A satellite image shows
the crisscrossing patterns

00:18:15.033 --> 00:18:19.533
of access roads and wells
extending for hundreds of miles

00:18:19.567 --> 00:18:24.133
across San Juan County
and Northwest New Mexico.

00:18:24.167 --> 00:18:27.833
- The land surface has been
scarred up so bad

00:18:27.867 --> 00:18:31.733
that I can\'t recognize it
from the first time I saw it.

00:18:40.967 --> 00:18:44.567
- The ranch lands of San Juan County
aren\'t the only areas

00:18:44.600 --> 00:18:47.467
inundated by drilling rigs.

00:18:47.500 --> 00:18:49.933
In the towns near
Gilbert Armenta\'s land,

00:18:49.967 --> 00:18:52.767
there are wells everywhere,

00:18:52.800 --> 00:18:56.733
in neighborhoods
and near schools.

00:18:56.767 --> 00:18:59.567
- The gas industry has been here
for 50-plus years,

00:18:59.600 --> 00:19:03.600
and we do drill
in populated areas.

00:19:03.633 --> 00:19:06.833
You can go out here a couple
hundred yards from this office

00:19:06.867 --> 00:19:08.367
and find a producing well.

00:19:08.400 --> 00:19:11.967
Conoco Phillips is the largest
producer in the San Juan Basin.

00:19:12.000 --> 00:19:14.767
When you look at the total
between our workforce directly

00:19:14.800 --> 00:19:16.900
and then indirectly,
people working for us,

00:19:16.933 --> 00:19:19.167
it\'s about 8%
of the local population.

00:19:19.200 --> 00:19:22.367
So we\'re a very large employer
in the basin here.

00:19:23.433 --> 00:19:26.633
- Industry has brought jobs
and money to the county,

00:19:26.667 --> 00:19:32.067
but for Gilbert Armenta,
the price has been much too high.

00:19:33.167 --> 00:19:37.333
- This gate would be the gate
to enter into my property.

00:19:37.367 --> 00:19:41.867
The oil company had me completely
locked out for 2 1/2 years.

00:19:41.900 --> 00:19:45.433
The only way they would give me a key
to enter my own property

00:19:45.467 --> 00:19:50.100
is if I agreed to keep
the gate locked at all times.

00:19:51.000 --> 00:19:54.900
The industry has the mentality
that it\'s all theirs

00:19:54.933 --> 00:19:59.433
and don\'t belong to nobody else.

00:19:59.467 --> 00:20:00.533
And that\'s what they tell us

00:20:00.567 --> 00:20:04.033
when they come out to drill here
on our lands.

00:20:04.067 --> 00:20:06.233
\"It\'s ours.

00:20:06.267 --> 00:20:08.867
You\'re in our way.\"

00:20:08.900 --> 00:20:11.633
- We just think the Good Neighbor
program is something

00:20:11.667 --> 00:20:13.533
that was somewhat elementary.

00:20:13.567 --> 00:20:14.700
And it\'s just respect,

00:20:14.733 --> 00:20:18.167
because if you don\'t,
two things will happen.

00:20:18.200 --> 00:20:20.533
First is the government
will regulate you,

00:20:20.567 --> 00:20:22.967
and a lot of times
regulate you out of business.

00:20:23.000 --> 00:20:28.333
And second is New Mexico becomes
an unfriendly business environment,

00:20:28.367 --> 00:20:30.800
and oil and gas industries
go elsewhere.

00:20:30.833 --> 00:20:32.533
I don\'t think
the state wants that.

00:20:32.567 --> 00:20:35.500
The oil and gas industry
doesn\'t want that.

00:20:35.533 --> 00:20:40.200
We have a very large emphasis
with our 325 member companies

00:20:40.233 --> 00:20:44.100
about being a good neighbor,
about talking to people,

00:20:44.133 --> 00:20:48.300
about doing the things that you
would do in your neighborhood

00:20:48.333 --> 00:20:49.600
with your next-door neighbor.

00:20:51.667 --> 00:20:54.867
- When they were doing
this pump jack,

00:20:54.900 --> 00:20:57.233
I wasn\'t home at the time,

00:20:57.267 --> 00:20:59.433
and anyway, they brought in
this huge rig

00:20:59.467 --> 00:21:01.933
to put that machine on there.

00:21:01.967 --> 00:21:04.633
They had already agreed
several years before

00:21:04.667 --> 00:21:10.567
to fence off the old cemetery.

00:21:11.533 --> 00:21:14.633
My great-grandfather
is buried here

00:21:14.667 --> 00:21:18.867
and his son, Filomeno Armenta,
who probably died about 1914.

00:21:18.900 --> 00:21:21.800
When I came down,
I saw the porta-potty.

00:21:21.833 --> 00:21:22.833
The porta-potty was -

00:21:22.867 --> 00:21:26.200
I said, \"Well, they kind of
put the porta-potty

00:21:26.233 --> 00:21:28.367
a little bit too close.\"

00:21:28.400 --> 00:21:35.033
And there was a huge pile of gravel
right on top of the cemetery.

00:21:35.067 --> 00:21:37.767
The first thing when we saw it,
we were in shock.

00:21:37.800 --> 00:21:40.367
The markers were sandstone,

00:21:40.400 --> 00:21:44.700
and one of the markers
was an old cedar post.

00:21:44.733 --> 00:21:47.167
And I haven\'t been able
to locate the cedar post

00:21:47.200 --> 00:21:48.767
or what the heck
they did with it.

00:21:48.800 --> 00:21:51.567
I don\'t know
if they hauled it off as trash.

00:21:51.600 --> 00:21:54.533
They totally wiped out
the cemetery.

00:21:54.567 --> 00:22:01.067
At my own expense, I came in,
and I put this pipe fence

00:22:01.100 --> 00:22:03.700
to make sure
they don\'t do it again.

00:22:03.733 --> 00:22:05.267
When I put this fence up,

00:22:05.300 --> 00:22:07.900
they sent me a letter telling me
they were going to sue me.

00:22:07.933 --> 00:22:11.067
They wanted me to furnish proof
that it was there.

00:22:11.100 --> 00:22:17.133
They had reneged on protecting
the cemetery as they promised,

00:22:17.167 --> 00:22:20.433
and now I don\'t know where
none of the markers are.

00:22:31.867 --> 00:22:34.167
- In the U.S.,
in the lower 48 onshore,

00:22:34.200 --> 00:22:35.867
the boom that is currently
going on

00:22:35.900 --> 00:22:37.900
is driven a lot by technology.

00:22:37.933 --> 00:22:39.833
There have been a lot
of technological advances

00:22:39.867 --> 00:22:44.233
with horizontal drilling,
with fracture stimulation.

00:22:44.267 --> 00:22:46.400
- One of the key elements
to finding

00:22:46.433 --> 00:22:49.900
and getting the resource out
of very tight sand or hard rock

00:22:49.933 --> 00:22:51.100
is a fracking process.

00:22:51.133 --> 00:22:54.600
\"Fracking\" is just a short word
for \"fracturing.\"

00:22:54.633 --> 00:22:58.667
- Hydraulic fracturing,
or fracking as it\'s commonly called,

00:22:58.700 --> 00:23:04.267
is a drilling technique first
commercialized by Halliburton in 1949.

00:23:04.300 --> 00:23:08.133
- It comes in with very
high-powered water and sand,

00:23:08.167 --> 00:23:09.800
and a slightly soapy mixture,

00:23:09.833 --> 00:23:11.667
and all it does is, it goes down,

00:23:11.700 --> 00:23:15.333
and it just fractures little
tiny fractures in the rock,

00:23:15.367 --> 00:23:18.233
and then the sand goes into
those fractures

00:23:18.267 --> 00:23:20.733
and allows the gas to escape.

00:23:20.767 --> 00:23:23.400
And then the gas flows
into the pipe

00:23:23.433 --> 00:23:27.400
and up to the surface
and to people\'s homes.

00:23:27.433 --> 00:23:30.467
- Hydraulic fracturing
is largely responsible

00:23:30.500 --> 00:23:32.733
for the domestic drilling boom.

00:23:32.767 --> 00:23:34.233
Because of its high cost,

00:23:34.267 --> 00:23:36.700
it was not widely used
until recently,

00:23:36.733 --> 00:23:38.467
in the 1990s,

00:23:38.500 --> 00:23:43.267
when the price of natural gas shot up
high enough to make it affordable.

00:23:43.300 --> 00:23:45.033
- And really what was
not economical

00:23:45.067 --> 00:23:49.367
over the last 50 years or so
is now economic,

00:23:49.400 --> 00:23:52.367
and it should continue,

00:23:52.400 --> 00:23:54.767
particularly if prices
stay where they are.

00:23:54.800 --> 00:23:58.367
- This is -
here are the reserve pits here.

00:23:58.400 --> 00:24:02.267
- Dr. Theo Colborn is one of
the world\'s leading authorities

00:24:02.300 --> 00:24:05.433
on endocrine-disrupting
chemicals in the environment

00:24:05.467 --> 00:24:07.167
and their impact on humans.

00:24:07.200 --> 00:24:10.067
- Down in here, the trucks are
coming all the way from Delta,

00:24:10.100 --> 00:24:12.600
which is 30 miles to here.

00:24:12.633 --> 00:24:15.467
- She has been studying the
chemicals used by the industry

00:24:15.500 --> 00:24:19.700
for drilling and extraction
and documenting their effects.

00:24:19.733 --> 00:24:23.267
- Basically our first list of the chemicals
that were being used

00:24:23.300 --> 00:24:28.733
was this very, very short
and uninteresting list

00:24:28.767 --> 00:24:30.300
that EPA put together.

00:24:30.333 --> 00:24:31.867
It certainly
wasn\'t comprehensive.

00:24:31.900 --> 00:24:32.900
We knew.

00:24:32.933 --> 00:24:36.500
We found out very rapidly
that it was no small list.

00:24:36.533 --> 00:24:39.233
They don\'t tell you everything
that\'s in a product.

00:24:39.267 --> 00:24:42.200
You may only get 5%
of what\'s in that product,

00:24:42.233 --> 00:24:44.300
and the rest of it
is proprietary,

00:24:44.333 --> 00:24:45.767
or they just don\'t give it.

00:24:45.800 --> 00:24:47.133
They don\'t have to.

00:24:47.167 --> 00:24:50.600
It\'s water, and it\'s sand,
and it\'s a surfactant in other words,

00:24:50.633 --> 00:24:53.367
but it is also proprietary,

00:24:53.400 --> 00:24:55.500
because every single
fracking company,

00:24:55.533 --> 00:24:58.300
whether it\'s a Slumber J
or it\'s a BJ Services

00:24:58.333 --> 00:24:59.767
or it\'s a Halliburton,

00:24:59.800 --> 00:25:02.800
they sell that theirs
is the best product,

00:25:02.833 --> 00:25:04.967
and so it\'s proprietary.

00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:08.400
It would be like divulging,
you know,

00:25:08.433 --> 00:25:11.033
why your chocolate is better
than somebody else\'s chocolate,

00:25:11.067 --> 00:25:12.427
because you have
those ingredients.

00:25:14.333 --> 00:25:19.533
- Oil and gas deposits below
ground contain toxic compounds

00:25:19.567 --> 00:25:22.767
that are brought to the surface
during drilling.

00:25:22.800 --> 00:25:25.167
These compounds pollute
the environment

00:25:25.200 --> 00:25:28.167
and can cause health problems,

00:25:28.200 --> 00:25:30.900
but the impacts of drilling
are made even worse

00:25:30.933 --> 00:25:33.967
by the chemical products that
are injected during the process.

00:25:34.000 --> 00:25:40.633
Dr. Colborn has documented over
200 products used in Colorado drilling.

00:25:40.667 --> 00:25:45.967
Over 90% contain chemicals
with adverse health affects.

00:25:46.000 --> 00:25:49.167
- In each fracking incident,

00:25:49.200 --> 00:25:52.167
they use approximately
1 million gallons of fluid.

00:25:52.200 --> 00:25:55.867
Each well can be fracked
as much as ten times.

00:25:55.900 --> 00:25:57.800
They\'re fracked
at different depths

00:25:57.833 --> 00:26:00.700
as they come higher and higher
toward the surface.

00:26:00.733 --> 00:26:03.767
Much of what
are being injected underground

00:26:03.800 --> 00:26:07.367
are coming back up and sitting
in these huge open pits,

00:26:07.400 --> 00:26:11.200
almost in people\'s backyards.

00:26:13.133 --> 00:26:15.467
- This is condensate
produced water.

00:26:15.500 --> 00:26:18.100
It\'s the water that comes out
of the bottom of the wells

00:26:18.133 --> 00:26:20.500
that they keep telling us
it\'s only water and it\'s safe

00:26:20.533 --> 00:26:23.233
and it won\'t hurt you,
and it\'s not water.

00:26:23.267 --> 00:26:25.533
I mean, look at the film
it leaves on the plastic,

00:26:25.567 --> 00:26:27.100
the liners,
after they pull it out.

00:26:27.133 --> 00:26:31.000
This one\'s been here
for three years.

00:26:32.400 --> 00:26:35.200
And for two years,
they misted off of it.

00:26:35.233 --> 00:26:38.333
They ran a sprinkler system over
the top of it all the time.

00:26:38.367 --> 00:26:40.567
That\'s an attempt
to evaporate the water.

00:26:40.600 --> 00:26:41.800
When they clean it up,

00:26:41.833 --> 00:26:44.467
they won\'t take this stuff,
all of it out.

00:26:44.500 --> 00:26:47.267
They\'ll just take a track hoe
and just start ripping it,

00:26:47.300 --> 00:26:49.333
put some of the soil in it,

00:26:49.367 --> 00:26:52.200
they\'ll bring in some Soilbond
and mix in it

00:26:52.233 --> 00:26:54.000
and bury it right where it\'s setting.

00:26:57.167 --> 00:27:00.067
- There is not any proof that
there\'s been anything harmful

00:27:00.100 --> 00:27:03.700
in the fracking fluids that
are used to fracture the wells.

00:27:03.733 --> 00:27:05.433
- You know, our fluids are not toxic.

00:27:05.467 --> 00:27:06.667
I know we get a lot of -

00:27:06.700 --> 00:27:08.367
I think there\'s a lot
of misunderstanding

00:27:08.400 --> 00:27:09.867
of what is actually
in these fluids.

00:27:09.900 --> 00:27:15.600
- I have fracking fluid taken right out of
a fracking truck in my office.

00:27:15.633 --> 00:27:17.633
I\'ve had it in my mouth,
I\'ve tasted it,

00:27:17.667 --> 00:27:18.967
and I\'m just fine.

00:27:19.000 --> 00:27:22.733
- For people who are telling you
that these products are safe,

00:27:22.767 --> 00:27:26.433
first, ask them
what they have been trained in.

00:27:26.467 --> 00:27:29.933
Two, find out
who\'s paying their salary,

00:27:29.967 --> 00:27:36.367
and third, actually hand them
a real glass full of something

00:27:36.400 --> 00:27:39.500
that you have taken from
an evaporation pond,

00:27:39.533 --> 00:27:42.600
and ask them to drink it.

00:27:42.633 --> 00:27:44.833
- I think it\'s just so important
for people to understand

00:27:44.867 --> 00:27:47.567
that we live here and love it also.

00:27:47.600 --> 00:27:49.733
So why would we mess in our nest?

00:27:59.467 --> 00:28:04.233
- Dee and Harold Hoffmeister live
across the road from the Bell farm,

00:28:04.267 --> 00:28:09.267
surrounded by an ever-increasing
number of natural gas wells.

00:28:09.300 --> 00:28:11.133
- We were in bed, actually, sleeping,

00:28:11.167 --> 00:28:16.133
and we heard this pop,
and then our son called.

00:28:16.167 --> 00:28:18.033
He said that
the well was on fire,

00:28:18.067 --> 00:28:20.933
and my husband went
to try to go outside,

00:28:20.967 --> 00:28:23.667
and it was too hot on the deck,
so he couldn\'t.

00:28:23.700 --> 00:28:24.700
- The wind was -

00:28:24.733 --> 00:28:26.933
- It was blowing right that way.
- Towards our house.

00:28:26.967 --> 00:28:30.867
- And then the fire trucks came,
but they waited way down,

00:28:30.900 --> 00:28:32.500
because there was nothing
they could do.

00:28:32.533 --> 00:28:34.067
- Had to wait for most of it
to burn out

00:28:34.100 --> 00:28:35.600
and then foamed the rest of it.

00:28:35.633 --> 00:28:37.033
- Yeah.

00:28:37.067 --> 00:28:40.800
- So I think they were there
basically for our homes,

00:28:40.833 --> 00:28:43.167
you know, if they caught fire
or something,

00:28:43.200 --> 00:28:45.033
you know, one of our structures.

00:28:45.867 --> 00:28:50.700
- Industrial accidents and spills
are common in these communities.

00:28:50.733 --> 00:28:54.733
Between 2003 and 2008,
it is estimated

00:28:54.767 --> 00:29:00.067
that there were 1,435 spills in Colorado.

00:29:01.100 --> 00:29:03.067
Nearly a quarter of these spills
are believed

00:29:03.100 --> 00:29:08.167
to have contaminated either ground
or surface water in the state.

00:29:09.100 --> 00:29:10.633
- Every time, we hear this.

00:29:10.667 --> 00:29:12.667
\"It\'s fine.
It\'s fine.

00:29:12.700 --> 00:29:13.700
\"Wait and see.

00:29:13.733 --> 00:29:15.500
Let\'s wait and see.\"

00:29:15.533 --> 00:29:18.667
And then some horrible thing
happens, you know?

00:29:19.300 --> 00:29:23.500
- A little farther down Dry Hollow Road
is the Divide Creek.

00:29:24.500 --> 00:29:25.733
- Okay, here we go.

00:29:25.767 --> 00:29:28.767
- That\'s where Lisa Bracken
and her family live.

00:29:30.900 --> 00:29:33.533
- This is back
where it was first discovered.

00:29:34.633 --> 00:29:37.867
We got a call one day,
April 1st, from a neighbor,

00:29:37.900 --> 00:29:39.233
Steve Thompson, and he said,

00:29:39.267 --> 00:29:41.133
\"You know, I found some stuff
down here on my place

00:29:41.167 --> 00:29:42.267
\"that doesn\'t look right.

00:29:42.300 --> 00:29:43.533
I think you should come
look at it.\"

00:29:43.567 --> 00:29:45.633
And he said, \"It\'s not normal.\"

00:29:45.667 --> 00:29:48.400
- See all them bubbles
in that water up there, Bob?

00:29:48.433 --> 00:29:50.767
Looks like little fish jumping?

00:29:50.800 --> 00:29:52.200
- Jesus, yes.

00:29:52.233 --> 00:29:54.400
- That\'s all gas coming up there.

00:29:54.433 --> 00:29:55.933
- On both his and our properties,

00:29:55.967 --> 00:29:59.267
there was the evidence
of bubbling in the creek.

00:29:59.300 --> 00:30:00.300
We didn\'t know what it was.

00:30:00.333 --> 00:30:01.400
It looked like a Pepsi can.

00:30:01.433 --> 00:30:04.800
There was just an eruption of bubbles
fizzing all over the place,

00:30:04.833 --> 00:30:06.633
in the reeds and in the water.

00:30:06.667 --> 00:30:10.400
It\'s percolating all over
this field.

00:30:10.433 --> 00:30:11.567
- There\'s just thousands.

00:30:11.600 --> 00:30:14.333
This field is just covered with them.

00:30:14.367 --> 00:30:15.900
- We\'ve been here 18 years,

00:30:15.933 --> 00:30:18.433
and this is the first time
I\'ve seen anything like this.

00:30:18.467 --> 00:30:19.467
- And it\'s funny.

00:30:19.500 --> 00:30:23.800
It just started happening
the day they started fracking.

00:30:23.833 --> 00:30:27.333
- We notified the EPA, DOW,
the health department,

00:30:27.367 --> 00:30:29.467
and then we called
and notified the state.

00:30:29.500 --> 00:30:33.300
And so my dad went down,
Black Cloud,

00:30:33.333 --> 00:30:35.367
he\'s of Native American heritage,

00:30:35.400 --> 00:30:38.567
and decided, okay,
they\'re not listening to us.

00:30:38.600 --> 00:30:41.067
He waded into the water,
and when he did,

00:30:41.100 --> 00:30:44.567
a cauldron of bubbles
just erupted all around him.

00:30:44.600 --> 00:30:46.267
- In an effort
to convince authorities

00:30:46.300 --> 00:30:49.600
that the bubbling
was not occurring naturally,

00:30:49.633 --> 00:30:53.800
Lisa and her family demonstrated
that the gas would ignite.

00:30:53.833 --> 00:30:56.767
- Yeah, let\'s go ahead
and light it.

00:30:56.800 --> 00:30:58.133
Oh, yeah, it burns.

00:30:58.167 --> 00:31:00.667
- Yeah, I\'d say.

00:31:00.700 --> 00:31:02.600
- Keep your face out.

00:31:02.633 --> 00:31:04.067
- Yeah, I am.

00:31:04.100 --> 00:31:06.567
- So he lit some of these vents on fire

00:31:06.600 --> 00:31:09.967
and demonstrated a flame
a foot high, a sustainable flame,

00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:12.833
from some of the things that
were coming up in the creek.

00:31:12.867 --> 00:31:15.100
- Water samples taken
from the groundwater

00:31:15.133 --> 00:31:17.633
in the Divide Creek seep area

00:31:17.667 --> 00:31:20.467
showed levels
of the carcinogen benzene,

00:31:20.500 --> 00:31:23.333
48 times government standards.

00:31:23.367 --> 00:31:27.800
Gas was released into the creek
for 55 days

00:31:27.833 --> 00:31:31.900
before the well believed to have
caused the seep was resealed.

00:31:31.933 --> 00:31:33.233
- After they remediated the well,

00:31:33.267 --> 00:31:35.700
evidence of the seep
largely disappeared.

00:31:35.733 --> 00:31:37.333
Here, it went away.

00:31:37.367 --> 00:31:39.633
And Pepi\'s place,
on Langegger\'s,

00:31:39.667 --> 00:31:41.933
it diminished significantly,

00:31:41.967 --> 00:31:44.333
and there\'s still
some evidence of it there,

00:31:44.367 --> 00:31:45.967
but it\'s the only
lingering presence.

00:31:47.367 --> 00:31:49.700
- To this day,
gas continues to bubble up

00:31:49.733 --> 00:31:54.900
at the seep\'s main exit point
on Pepi Langegger\'s land.

00:31:54.933 --> 00:31:59.200
- So what they are trying to do
is contain everything,

00:31:59.233 --> 00:32:02.300
the contamination,
right in a certain area here.

00:32:02.333 --> 00:32:05.933
But there is still benzene,
toluene in there,

00:32:05.967 --> 00:32:09.900
and nobody knows how long
it\'s going to take,

00:32:09.933 --> 00:32:15.967
or if ever, really, everything
is going to be cleared up.

00:32:16.000 --> 00:32:19.900
- According to a statement provided by
the EnCana Corporation,

00:32:19.933 --> 00:32:22.667
\"Nothing that EnCana did
was out of compliance

00:32:22.700 --> 00:32:25.700
\"with the regulations
in place at that time.

00:32:25.733 --> 00:32:28.767
\"Extensive monitoring
following the incident

00:32:28.800 --> 00:32:30.833
\"indicates there was
no contamination

00:32:30.867 --> 00:32:34.233
\"of residential water sources
as a result of the seep.

00:32:34.267 --> 00:32:37.033
\"An air convection system
is in place

00:32:37.067 --> 00:32:42.100
to remove benzene from the
groundwater in the plume area.\"

00:32:42.133 --> 00:32:46.467
- They come in and they put into
the creek a sparging unit.

00:32:46.500 --> 00:32:49.900
Now, what a sparging unit does,
according to what EnCana says,

00:32:49.933 --> 00:32:52.833
is it takes the water,
and it roils it up,

00:32:52.867 --> 00:32:55.433
and it mists it,

00:32:55.467 --> 00:32:59.867
and the benzene,
which is the cancer-causing ingredient,

00:32:59.900 --> 00:33:03.333
it takes the benzene
out of the water,

00:33:03.367 --> 00:33:06.367
and it puts into the air.

00:33:06.400 --> 00:33:09.233
[laughs]

00:33:09.267 --> 00:33:10.267
Problem solved.

00:33:10.300 --> 00:33:12.233
So the people downwind
can breathe it

00:33:12.267 --> 00:33:15.600
instead of the people
downstream drinking it.

00:33:15.633 --> 00:33:20.933
They had lost 115 million cubic feet
of gas into the ground.

00:33:20.967 --> 00:33:22.800
It runs down to the river

00:33:22.833 --> 00:33:25.733
and down to where Silt
picks up its drinking water

00:33:25.767 --> 00:33:28.933
and where Rifle picks up
its drinking water.

00:33:28.967 --> 00:33:31.700
Yeah, that\'s where it goes.

00:33:31.733 --> 00:33:37.867
- EnCana was ordered
to pay a fine of $371,200.

00:33:37.900 --> 00:33:40.733
- It\'s a pretty spot and,
like I say here,

00:33:40.767 --> 00:33:43.633
this is pristine land,
basically,

00:33:43.667 --> 00:33:44.700
would be for somebody -

00:33:44.733 --> 00:33:48.500
if somebody wants
to have a little hideaway.

00:33:48.533 --> 00:33:51.767
Who do you think
I could sell it to?

00:33:51.800 --> 00:33:52.967
Say, \"Well, yeah, it\'s nice,

00:33:53.000 --> 00:33:56.200
but there\'s a little benzene
coming out of the ground.\"

00:33:56.233 --> 00:33:57.533
[laughs]

00:33:57.567 --> 00:33:59.500
Yeah.

00:33:59.533 --> 00:34:02.767
- Spills and groundwater
contamination can occur

00:34:02.800 --> 00:34:04.767
anywhere there\'s drilling.

00:34:04.800 --> 00:34:07.100
Industry representatives
often try

00:34:07.133 --> 00:34:10.067
to downplay
their environmental impact.

00:34:10.100 --> 00:34:13.900
- There has not been one instance
in the state of New Mexico

00:34:13.933 --> 00:34:17.333
where water was contaminated
by our operations

00:34:17.367 --> 00:34:21.433
that actually went into a consumer\'s
place of business or a home.

00:34:21.467 --> 00:34:24.400
We talk about ruining the water.

00:34:24.433 --> 00:34:25.767
There hasn\'t been one drop of water

00:34:25.800 --> 00:34:28.067
delivered to a consumer
for consumption

00:34:28.100 --> 00:34:31.300
in the 100,000 wells
that we drilled in 90 years,

00:34:31.333 --> 00:34:32.933
ever been polluted
or contaminated.

00:34:32.967 --> 00:34:34.667
- The fact that I\'ve heard,

00:34:34.700 --> 00:34:37.300
and, Bob,
correct me if I\'m wrong,

00:34:37.333 --> 00:34:42.800
is that the oil and gas industry
has self-reported 900 instances

00:34:42.833 --> 00:34:45.500
of groundwater contamination
since the \'90s.

00:34:45.533 --> 00:34:46.600
That\'s self-reported.

00:34:46.633 --> 00:34:49.033
Are you saying that there has
never been an instance

00:34:49.067 --> 00:34:51.367
where oil exploration
in New Mexico

00:34:51.400 --> 00:34:55.333
has actually resulted in the contamination
of our water supply?

00:34:55.367 --> 00:34:57.133
- That was delivered
to the consumer?

00:34:57.167 --> 00:34:58.400
Yes, that\'s what I\'m saying.

00:34:58.433 --> 00:35:00.267
- But that wasn\'t delivered
to the consumer,

00:35:00.300 --> 00:35:02.500
that is there underground,

00:35:02.533 --> 00:35:05.667
you\'re acknowledging that there has been
contamination in those cases?

00:35:05.700 --> 00:35:07.500
- I\'m not sure
if there\'s been contamination.

00:35:07.533 --> 00:35:12.000
I\'m acknowledging that there has
been some cases of a concern

00:35:12.033 --> 00:35:15.067
at oil and gas that has
gotten close to a water table

00:35:15.100 --> 00:35:16.267
or in a water table,

00:35:16.300 --> 00:35:19.300
but not in a water table
that\'s delivered for consumption.

00:35:20.833 --> 00:35:22.733
- This is Colorado Matters.

00:35:22.767 --> 00:35:25.600
Some Coloradoans who live near
oil and gas wells

00:35:25.633 --> 00:35:27.400
say drilling
is making them sick.

00:35:27.433 --> 00:35:29.967
- The recent spike in oil
and gas drilling in Colorado

00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:31.367
is having a big impact...

00:35:31.400 --> 00:35:32.633
- But there\'s little information

00:35:32.667 --> 00:35:36.333
about the effect of all
that drilling on human health.

00:35:36.367 --> 00:35:41.133
- In 2004, some residents
in Garfield County began to complain

00:35:41.167 --> 00:35:42.967
that they were getting sick
as a result

00:35:43.000 --> 00:35:46.633
of the drilling activities
in their neighborhoods.

00:35:46.667 --> 00:35:49.733
A young woman from Silt,
Laura Amos,

00:35:49.767 --> 00:35:53.533
was one of the earliest
and loudest voices.

00:35:53.567 --> 00:35:55.333
- As everyone in this room
probably knows,

00:35:55.367 --> 00:35:58.333
my groundwater has been
contaminated with methane,

00:35:58.367 --> 00:35:59.533
Williamsport Gas.

00:35:59.567 --> 00:36:02.833
There\'s a lot of people
in this room with contamination

00:36:02.867 --> 00:36:04.833
and pollution issues.

00:36:04.867 --> 00:36:10.500
So who then is responsible to me
for that loss of my welfare

00:36:10.533 --> 00:36:13.133
if it\'s not you,
the Gas Commission?

00:36:13.167 --> 00:36:16.033
- If a well is drilled
next to your residence

00:36:16.067 --> 00:36:19.600
or near your residence
within the legal setbacks

00:36:19.633 --> 00:36:24.267
and there\'s a perceived or real impact
on your property value,

00:36:24.300 --> 00:36:25.733
we don\'t address that.

00:36:25.767 --> 00:36:30.867
- In 2001, gas wells were drilled
using the fracking technique

00:36:30.900 --> 00:36:34.433
a mere 500 feet
from the Amos home.

00:36:34.467 --> 00:36:37.867
Underground, the drilling
breached their water well,

00:36:37.900 --> 00:36:40.933
causing their drinking water
to fill with gray sediment

00:36:40.967 --> 00:36:43.833
and fizz like soda pop.

00:36:43.867 --> 00:36:46.800
The Colorado Oil
and Gas Conservation Commission

00:36:46.833 --> 00:36:49.867
tested the water well
and found methane

00:36:49.900 --> 00:36:52.633
but said it was safe.

00:36:52.667 --> 00:36:55.600
Bu they warned the Amoses
to keep a window open

00:36:55.633 --> 00:36:58.100
so the methane gas
wouldn\'t build up

00:36:58.133 --> 00:37:01.467
and cause an explosion
in their home.

00:37:01.500 --> 00:37:03.967
The Amoses stopped drinking
the water

00:37:04.000 --> 00:37:06.933
but continued to bathe in it.

00:37:06.967 --> 00:37:10.700
- A young woman called me
from Garfield County

00:37:10.733 --> 00:37:13.767
and said that she had developed
a rare adrenal tumor,

00:37:13.800 --> 00:37:17.467
that she had had this incident
with her well.

00:37:17.500 --> 00:37:18.500
That was the beginning.

00:37:18.533 --> 00:37:19.667
I mean, when she called,

00:37:19.700 --> 00:37:22.300
it just sent chills
up and down my spine.

00:37:22.333 --> 00:37:25.800
She had been breast-feeding
her daughter through the period

00:37:25.833 --> 00:37:29.467
when they were using the water
that they were told was safe.

00:37:29.500 --> 00:37:32.733
She was bathing her baby
in the water in their home.

00:37:32.767 --> 00:37:36.733
They were breathing this stuff
that was coming into their house.

00:37:36.767 --> 00:37:41.567
- She later found out that a chemical
that had been used in the 2001 fracking

00:37:41.600 --> 00:37:45.300
has been linked
to adrenal gland tumors.

00:37:45.333 --> 00:37:46.867
When she went to EnCana,

00:37:46.900 --> 00:37:50.233
they denied using it
on that well or any other.

00:37:50.267 --> 00:37:53.500
Months later, the oil and gas
commission admitted

00:37:53.533 --> 00:37:56.333
that it had been used after all.

00:37:56.367 --> 00:37:58.067
- Laura was told
her water was safe,

00:37:58.100 --> 00:37:59.300
but we found out later,

00:37:59.333 --> 00:38:02.767
they never tested it for 2-BE.

00:38:02.800 --> 00:38:05.800
They waited until four years
after the incident

00:38:05.833 --> 00:38:09.733
to go back to see if possibly
they could find some.

00:38:09.767 --> 00:38:11.700
That was long gone.

00:38:11.733 --> 00:38:14.833
She spoke to other people
in her neighborhood.

00:38:14.867 --> 00:38:17.100
She began to see if anybody else

00:38:17.133 --> 00:38:19.167
was having the kind of
health problems she had,

00:38:19.200 --> 00:38:24.267
and then others began telling me
about people they heard about,

00:38:24.300 --> 00:38:27.300
and I was just amazed at the numbers
of people that were involved.

00:38:27.333 --> 00:38:30.800
And I thought,
\"This is maybe a serious problem.

00:38:30.833 --> 00:38:34.100
What is going on over there?\"

00:38:34.133 --> 00:38:36.767
- After years
of mounting medical bills,

00:38:36.800 --> 00:38:39.933
devalued property,
and diminishing options,

00:38:39.967 --> 00:38:44.300
Laura agreed to a monetary settlement
with EnCana Corporation,

00:38:44.333 --> 00:38:46.300
the company responsible
for her problems.

00:38:46.333 --> 00:38:51.900
The settlement stipulated she
stop telling her story publicly,

00:38:51.933 --> 00:38:55.200
which is why she was not
interviewed for this film.

00:38:55.233 --> 00:38:58.200
Many family\'s stories like hers
will never be told

00:38:58.233 --> 00:39:03.567
because of company settlements
that require silence.

00:39:03.600 --> 00:39:07.933
- And as I sat there and looked
out my window into my backyard,

00:39:07.967 --> 00:39:12.933
all I could think was,
\"I\'m getting involved in this.

00:39:12.967 --> 00:39:17.033
There\'s no way
I can stay out of this.\"

00:39:17.067 --> 00:39:22.600
And I\'m sitting here
with all of the right resources.

00:39:22.633 --> 00:39:24.267
These people need help.

00:39:35.667 --> 00:39:37.633
- Let\'s go around
the trampoline.

00:39:37.667 --> 00:39:40.367
- In spite of the well explosion
and fire,

00:39:40.400 --> 00:39:42.833
Dee Hoffmeister has stayed
in her house,

00:39:42.867 --> 00:39:46.600
surrounded by her children
and grandchildren.

00:39:46.633 --> 00:39:47.700
- This kind of helps me.

00:39:47.733 --> 00:39:49.233
It gives me
a little more steadiness

00:39:49.267 --> 00:39:51.267
until I can grab something.

00:39:51.300 --> 00:39:52.700
You know, they were doing okay

00:39:52.733 --> 00:39:55.200
as long as the rigs and that
weren\'t there

00:39:55.233 --> 00:39:56.733
and it was just
the working well,

00:39:56.767 --> 00:40:00.333
and you still got whiffs
of smells and that,

00:40:00.367 --> 00:40:01.900
and I just couldn\'t be outside.

00:40:01.933 --> 00:40:03.933
It wasn\'t in the house.

00:40:03.967 --> 00:40:07.567
But then they brought in
the temporary rig,

00:40:07.600 --> 00:40:11.133
because they were having problems
with one of the holes I think,

00:40:11.167 --> 00:40:13.967
and then the smells
all started up again,

00:40:14.000 --> 00:40:15.533
because they were doing
the fracking,

00:40:15.567 --> 00:40:18.000
and it all blows
right over here.

00:40:18.033 --> 00:40:20.400
We had one back there behind us.

00:40:20.433 --> 00:40:25.900
We had two on the side here
that were all working, you know,

00:40:25.933 --> 00:40:27.267
flaring with gas,

00:40:27.300 --> 00:40:30.700
and I got much more ill
after the fire.

00:40:30.733 --> 00:40:34.733
Whatever was there just burned
and came right at me.

00:40:34.767 --> 00:40:38.300
You know, it was like somebody
had just dumped chemicals on me.

00:40:38.333 --> 00:40:40.100
Finally I couldn\'t stand it anymore,

00:40:40.133 --> 00:40:44.233
and Monday my husband took me
to the emergency room at the hospital.

00:40:44.267 --> 00:40:46.300
And he said, \"Well, we\'re going
to do some blood work,

00:40:46.333 --> 00:40:48.633
and then we\'ll do some X-rays
and CAT scan.\"

00:40:48.667 --> 00:40:50.800
And I said,
\"You know, this is chemical.

00:40:50.833 --> 00:40:52.233
These are chemicals.\"

00:40:52.267 --> 00:40:54.600
I said, \"I don\'t think you\'re
going to find anything.\"

00:40:54.633 --> 00:40:59.133
And he came back, he said,
\"All the tests are inconclusive.\"

00:40:59.167 --> 00:41:00.600
And I said, \"I know.

00:41:00.633 --> 00:41:04.633
My body is full of chemicals,
and that\'s why I\'m sick.\"

00:41:04.667 --> 00:41:09.733
- There is no way a physician
can truly treat what he\'s seeing.

00:41:09.767 --> 00:41:14.000
They have not been given the list
of these chemicals that are being used.

00:41:14.033 --> 00:41:15.700
When someone
comes to them with -

00:41:15.733 --> 00:41:19.533
some of these look like
clinical, ordinary disorders.

00:41:19.567 --> 00:41:22.067
They need to do
a little questioning,

00:41:22.100 --> 00:41:26.067
because it could very well be
that it is a chemical

00:41:26.100 --> 00:41:27.100
that they were exposed to,

00:41:27.133 --> 00:41:29.200
and there may be a way
to treat it.

00:41:29.233 --> 00:41:31.700
But they can\'t give
proper treatment

00:41:31.733 --> 00:41:36.367
if they\'re not aware
of what these people are exposed to.

00:41:37.700 --> 00:41:39.500
- Can you get down?

00:41:39.533 --> 00:41:44.133
I have 21 grandkids
and one great.

00:41:44.167 --> 00:41:46.800
Oh.

00:41:46.833 --> 00:41:48.567
Yeah, they\'ve been pretty sick.

00:41:48.600 --> 00:41:51.633
They\'ve had colds, asthma.

00:41:51.667 --> 00:41:55.067
- The girls have all had
lung infections, sinus infections.

00:41:55.100 --> 00:41:56.367
Liam\'s asthma\'s really bad.

00:41:56.400 --> 00:41:57.800
He\'s on four
different medicines.

00:41:57.833 --> 00:42:00.100
- Basically we found

00:42:00.133 --> 00:42:02.533
that if you were to take
all of the chemicals

00:42:02.567 --> 00:42:04.800
that are used
in a particular state,

00:42:04.833 --> 00:42:09.000
always where you see the highest percentage
of possible health effects,

00:42:09.033 --> 00:42:13.167
it\'s always skin irritation,
eye irritation, blistering,

00:42:13.200 --> 00:42:17.167
sinuses, asthma, coughing,

00:42:17.200 --> 00:42:20.500
and then this effect
called sensitizing,

00:42:20.533 --> 00:42:22.767
itchy skin, burny skin.

00:42:25.433 --> 00:42:26.633
- You can get an idea.

00:42:26.667 --> 00:42:29.600
There\'s a very heavy truck
behind us,

00:42:29.633 --> 00:42:31.767
and this is a dry Colorado road,

00:42:31.800 --> 00:42:35.033
and you see this tremendous
cloud of dust that\'s put up.

00:42:35.067 --> 00:42:38.333
Multiply that
by the thousands of trucks

00:42:38.367 --> 00:42:42.933
that are now moving on the roads
into the various drilling sites.

00:42:42.967 --> 00:42:45.267
They put out these particulates,

00:42:45.300 --> 00:42:47.867
this particulate mass
that you can see.

00:42:47.900 --> 00:42:49.800
That\'s not the problem.

00:42:49.833 --> 00:42:53.700
Part of that cloud is
a very fine particulate,

00:42:53.733 --> 00:42:55.867
particles that are less than
5 micrometers,

00:42:55.900 --> 00:42:58.800
and those provoke asthma
in children.

00:42:58.833 --> 00:43:00.767
They provoke asthma in adults.

00:43:00.800 --> 00:43:05.300
They make for acute episodes.

00:43:05.333 --> 00:43:07.500
- You know, it\'s your health,
but it\'s everything.

00:43:07.533 --> 00:43:10.033
It\'s how you live.

00:43:10.067 --> 00:43:13.767
Your quality of life
is just gone.

00:43:16.100 --> 00:43:18.600
Yeah.

00:43:24.900 --> 00:43:28.833
But I hope
I don\'t have to move away.

00:43:32.833 --> 00:43:35.533
- Dee still lives
on Dry Hollow Road.

00:43:35.567 --> 00:43:37.633
Shortly after this interview,

00:43:37.667 --> 00:43:39.333
Dee\'s son and daughter-in-law

00:43:39.367 --> 00:43:42.700
and their four children
moved out of the state.

00:43:42.733 --> 00:43:46.867
When they moved,
their respiratory problems disappeared.

00:43:47.933 --> 00:43:54.967
In 2004, the Bush/Cheney administration\'s
Environmental Protection Agency asserted

00:43:55.000 --> 00:43:58.467
that fracturing does not
threaten drinking water.

00:43:58.500 --> 00:44:03.733
This was challenged by
a 30-year EPA environmental engineer,

00:44:03.767 --> 00:44:05.200
Weston Wilson,

00:44:05.233 --> 00:44:08.433
acting under
protected whistle-blower status.

00:44:08.467 --> 00:44:12.367
- The former chairman and CEO
of Halliburton, Dick Cheney,

00:44:12.400 --> 00:44:17.567
within a few months of coming
into office as vice-president,

00:44:17.600 --> 00:44:20.833
he was pressuring
the administrator of EPA,

00:44:20.933 --> 00:44:22.600
Christie Todd-Whitman,

00:44:22.633 --> 00:44:25.633
to exempt hydraulic fracking from
the Safe Drinking Water Act regulation.

00:44:25.667 --> 00:44:28.267
From my own point of view
as a technician,

00:44:28.300 --> 00:44:30.000
I just thought it very alarming

00:44:30.033 --> 00:44:34.967
that EPA technically had described
how toxic these materials are,

00:44:35.000 --> 00:44:37.300
toxic at the point of injection,

00:44:37.333 --> 00:44:39.400
and still come out
with a summary

00:44:39.433 --> 00:44:42.000
that says they don\'t need
to be reported or regulated.

00:44:42.033 --> 00:44:49.033
That led me, in the fall of \'04,
to object on technical grounds.

00:44:49.067 --> 00:44:51.367
Then the inspector general
of EPA

00:44:51.400 --> 00:44:55.933
began an investigation
of my complaints.

00:44:55.967 --> 00:45:00.200
And several months into that,

00:45:00.233 --> 00:45:02.633
Congress took the report
from EPA

00:45:02.667 --> 00:45:07.133
saying that fracking
did not present a risk,

00:45:07.167 --> 00:45:08.433
along with other information,

00:45:08.467 --> 00:45:12.467
and exempted hydraulic fracking
from regulation

00:45:12.500 --> 00:45:14.167
under the Safe Drinking Water Act.

00:45:14.200 --> 00:45:16.767
That leaves you and I
as the American public

00:45:16.800 --> 00:45:17.867
in this position:

00:45:17.900 --> 00:45:23.667
we cannot know what the industry
injects in our land.

00:45:23.700 --> 00:45:26.033
It is exempt
from being reported.

00:45:26.067 --> 00:45:28.700
- There are federal laws
that protect our environment

00:45:28.733 --> 00:45:31.167
like the Clean Air Act,
the Clean Water Act,

00:45:31.200 --> 00:45:32.467
the Safe Drinking Water Act,

00:45:32.500 --> 00:45:35.167
and it turns out that the oil
and gas industry is exempt

00:45:35.200 --> 00:45:38.133
from very important provisions
of those laws.

00:45:38.167 --> 00:45:41.800
Some of these exemptions
date back for decades.

00:45:41.833 --> 00:45:43.400
It hasn\'t been a partisan thing.

00:45:43.433 --> 00:45:47.733
There have been officials
from different parties

00:45:47.767 --> 00:45:50.633
that have supported exemptions
for the oil and gas industry.

00:45:50.667 --> 00:45:52.333
What happens is,

00:45:52.367 --> 00:45:55.333
politicians from states where
there\'s a large energy industry

00:45:55.367 --> 00:46:00.867
often support measures that are
beneficial to the industry.

00:46:24.733 --> 00:46:26.367
- Down the Colorado River,

00:46:26.400 --> 00:46:29.133
about nine miles
to the west of Silt,

00:46:29.167 --> 00:46:32.767
is the town of Rifle.

00:46:44.533 --> 00:46:47.800
This is when we lived
in Glenwood.

00:46:47.833 --> 00:46:52.367
This is before anything,
any problems,

00:46:52.400 --> 00:46:54.200
before we lived in Rifle.

00:46:54.233 --> 00:46:56.100
This is 1993.

00:46:56.133 --> 00:46:58.667
We\'ve been married,
like, 100 years.

00:47:02.000 --> 00:47:05.400
I\'m 54, and she\'s 59.

00:47:05.433 --> 00:47:06.533
She\'s changed.

00:47:06.567 --> 00:47:09.567
She\'s changed so much.

00:47:09.600 --> 00:47:11.567
There\'s a traditional
Chris picture.

00:47:11.600 --> 00:47:14.400
Here\'s a traditional
Steve picture.

00:47:14.433 --> 00:47:19.367
- In 1993, Chris and Steve Mobaldi decided
to leave California

00:47:19.400 --> 00:47:21.067
to move to Colorado.

00:47:21.100 --> 00:47:23.067
- We both got laid off
from our work

00:47:23.100 --> 00:47:26.333
because we both volunteered
to be laid off

00:47:26.367 --> 00:47:29.067
because we wanted to get out
of California,

00:47:29.100 --> 00:47:31.033
move to Colorado
where it was beautiful

00:47:31.067 --> 00:47:34.100
and clean air and clean water.

00:47:34.133 --> 00:47:36.733
- They found themselves
in Garfield County

00:47:36.767 --> 00:47:38.800
looking for a new home.

00:47:38.833 --> 00:47:39.967
- There\'s Chris.

00:47:40.000 --> 00:47:41.967
- Hi.
- Hi.

00:47:44.000 --> 00:47:47.133
- In 1995,
they bought their dream house,

00:47:47.167 --> 00:47:51.000
a fixer-upper in a rural
neighborhood outside Rifle.

00:47:56.100 --> 00:47:59.533
It was shortly after Chris
and Steve moved in

00:47:59.567 --> 00:48:01.533
that drilling rigs
began to appear

00:48:01.567 --> 00:48:05.633
on some of their neighbors\' land
and in the surrounding hills.

00:48:05.667 --> 00:48:08.067
- And then everything changed.

00:48:08.100 --> 00:48:13.467
Chris would get in the shower,
and her skin turned bright red.

00:48:13.500 --> 00:48:14.933
I think it was in \'96.

00:48:14.967 --> 00:48:15.967
And it hurt.

00:48:16.000 --> 00:48:19.033
Her skin, it was burning,
on fire.

00:48:19.067 --> 00:48:20.533
She would swell.

00:48:20.567 --> 00:48:23.667
- Steve began
to develop symptoms as well.

00:48:23.700 --> 00:48:26.000
- I\'d feel dizzy.

00:48:26.033 --> 00:48:27.600
I\'d get bloody noses.

00:48:27.633 --> 00:48:30.500
- Why would anyone think
that something happening

00:48:30.533 --> 00:48:32.133
a couple miles down the road

00:48:32.167 --> 00:48:36.767
could possibly be causing
this health change in their body?

00:48:36.800 --> 00:48:39.033
You see blood disorders,

00:48:39.067 --> 00:48:42.867
what is called
idiopathic hemorrhaging.

00:48:42.900 --> 00:48:46.000
So you get bloody eyes,
bloody noses,

00:48:46.033 --> 00:48:49.267
and also blood in the urine.

00:48:49.300 --> 00:48:53.300
And a number of people who called me said
they had this condition.

00:48:53.333 --> 00:48:55.600
- I was afraid she was
gonna bleed to death.

00:48:55.633 --> 00:48:59.667
She\'d wake up in the morning,
and she would be covered in blood.

00:48:59.700 --> 00:49:02.533
Her nose would be bleeding
just like crazy,

00:49:02.567 --> 00:49:04.167
and the pillow
was covered with blood.

00:49:04.200 --> 00:49:05.833
The sheets
were covered with blood.

00:49:05.867 --> 00:49:08.667
- Well around 50%
of the chemicals

00:49:08.700 --> 00:49:13.800
cause such things as kidney damage,
cardiovascular problems.

00:49:13.833 --> 00:49:16.667
And then the next
and very troublesome

00:49:16.700 --> 00:49:18.733
are the neurological effects.

00:49:30.867 --> 00:49:34.667
- Chris\' health began
to deteriorate rapidly.

00:49:34.700 --> 00:49:38.067
She began losing her sight,
had severe headaches,

00:49:38.100 --> 00:49:41.300
and had pain
in her hands and feet.

00:49:41.333 --> 00:49:44.900
There were two surgeries
to remove a pituitary tumor,

00:49:44.933 --> 00:49:49.033
and she developed a rare
neurological speech impairment.

00:49:49.067 --> 00:49:53.033
It became increasingly difficult
for her to speak clearly.

00:49:56.333 --> 00:50:02.967
- I\'ve had several patients
who have been having symptoms

00:50:03.000 --> 00:50:05.167
since the time
that they were exposed

00:50:05.200 --> 00:50:08.500
to oil and gas exploration
near their homes.

00:50:08.533 --> 00:50:12.900
These are all people
in a small cluster around Rifle.

00:50:12.933 --> 00:50:17.733
- Last year, EPA got several citizen\'s
requests from Garfield County,

00:50:17.767 --> 00:50:19.933
and the citizens were saying,

00:50:19.967 --> 00:50:23.067
\"Gosh, my drinking water might be
contaminated by this practice,

00:50:23.100 --> 00:50:25.067
\"or the air we breathe
might be affected.

00:50:25.100 --> 00:50:27.700
EPA, can you look into it?\"

00:50:27.733 --> 00:50:30.133
EPA should have.

00:50:30.167 --> 00:50:33.000
Myself and another staff person,
we had prepared the letters,

00:50:33.033 --> 00:50:34.900
and we were ready to write

00:50:34.933 --> 00:50:37.467
to the Colorado Oil
and Gas Commission

00:50:37.500 --> 00:50:42.033
that we felt that this practice
caused eminent substantial risk

00:50:42.067 --> 00:50:44.267
to public drinking water source,

00:50:44.300 --> 00:50:47.267
and that EPA was gonna
take over the investigation.

00:50:47.300 --> 00:50:51.733
However, as soon as we got that
to our political appointee supervisors,

00:50:51.767 --> 00:50:54.133
they cancelled
that investigation.

00:50:54.167 --> 00:50:57.500
So EPA did not investigate
the legitimate complaints

00:50:57.533 --> 00:51:00.333
from citizens
in Garfield County.

00:51:00.367 --> 00:51:01.667
When they were drilling,

00:51:01.700 --> 00:51:04.467
we could feel it grinding
underneath the ground, you know,

00:51:04.500 --> 00:51:05.700
under our house,

00:51:05.733 --> 00:51:08.233
and then we\'d feel
these explosions,

00:51:08.267 --> 00:51:10.733
and it would shake dishes
and rattle pictures,

00:51:10.767 --> 00:51:14.767
and it drilled
for the longest time.

00:51:14.800 --> 00:51:18.000
And the pit was even closer,
and they\'d burn it.

00:51:18.033 --> 00:51:20.267
They would just flare it off.

00:51:20.300 --> 00:51:24.167
The wind blew
right to our house.

00:51:24.200 --> 00:51:27.033
- If you lived in a rural,
residential area

00:51:27.067 --> 00:51:28.733
and you were in
a low-lying area,

00:51:28.767 --> 00:51:30.233
your house was
in a low-lying area

00:51:30.267 --> 00:51:33.700
that could accumulate
these gases

00:51:33.733 --> 00:51:37.433
when they come off
the tank battery and so forth,

00:51:37.467 --> 00:51:42.567
you may be breathing those
for 12 hours a day.

00:51:42.600 --> 00:51:44.833
- One of the concerns
of the agency

00:51:44.867 --> 00:51:46.900
with respect to
the oil and gas industry

00:51:46.933 --> 00:51:49.967
is how much
volatile organic carbon,

00:51:50.000 --> 00:51:52.800
how much volatile gases
come from the industry,

00:51:52.833 --> 00:51:58.500
especially from storage of oil
or storage of gas.

00:51:58.533 --> 00:52:01.667
Last summer, in an effort
to track down

00:52:01.700 --> 00:52:05.767
how much volatile organic carbon was coming
from oil and gas industry,

00:52:05.800 --> 00:52:09.033
a unique study
was undertaken by EPA.

00:52:09.067 --> 00:52:12.867
And EPA brought in
some infrared cameras

00:52:12.900 --> 00:52:16.000
and turned them towards
these oil and gas facilities,

00:52:16.033 --> 00:52:19.600
and under infrared light,

00:52:19.633 --> 00:52:23.067
the volatile organic commissions
were visible.

00:52:23.100 --> 00:52:26.433
They looked like a mirage,

00:52:26.467 --> 00:52:29.667
and so one could see
in this infrared camera

00:52:29.700 --> 00:52:31.533
the amount of
volatile organic carbon

00:52:31.567 --> 00:52:37.500
coming off these storage tanks.

00:52:37.533 --> 00:52:41.267
- Every well is drilled
into a stratum

00:52:41.300 --> 00:52:44.933
that has organic chemicals in it.

00:52:44.967 --> 00:52:49.900
Oil is a mixture of
these very heavy organics,

00:52:49.933 --> 00:52:56.267
but it\'s a range from these kind of greasy,
very heavy, oily stuff

00:52:56.300 --> 00:52:58.100
to stuff which is quite volatile.

00:52:58.133 --> 00:53:01.200
Those materials evaporate
very quickly.

00:53:01.233 --> 00:53:03.133
All of those
are potentially toxic,

00:53:03.167 --> 00:53:05.900
but we don\'t know
to what extent.

00:53:05.933 --> 00:53:07.167
Many of them are dangerous.

00:53:07.200 --> 00:53:10.233
Ethylene, for instance,
is converted in humans

00:53:10.267 --> 00:53:15.300
to ethylene oxide, and ethylene
oxide is a carcinogen.

00:53:15.333 --> 00:53:18.467
- Besides the drilling
in their immediate neighborhood,

00:53:18.500 --> 00:53:21.167
Chris and Steve
were directly downwind

00:53:21.200 --> 00:53:24.400
of what was becoming
a major drilling field,

00:53:24.433 --> 00:53:30.000
exposing them to even higher
levels of airborne toxins.

00:53:30.033 --> 00:53:32.333
Another source
of possible exposure

00:53:32.367 --> 00:53:34.667
was a waste water
treatment facility

00:53:34.700 --> 00:53:38.033
located across the river
from their home.

00:53:38.067 --> 00:53:42.333
- We\'re only six miles
out of Rifle.

00:53:42.367 --> 00:53:46.867
- Rick Roles is a rancher
who lives near the waste water facility.

00:53:46.900 --> 00:53:51.633
Here, drilling wastes are separated
from huge volumes of waste water

00:53:51.667 --> 00:53:57.200
by evaporating out the water
in giant open air ponds.

00:53:57.233 --> 00:54:00.633
- We\'re at the Williams Water
Treatment Facility at Anvil Points.

00:54:00.667 --> 00:54:01.800
See, there you go.

00:54:01.833 --> 00:54:03.800
\"Anvil Points Water
Management Facility.

00:54:03.833 --> 00:54:04.833
\"No smoking.

00:54:04.867 --> 00:54:06.567
Authorized only.\"

00:54:06.600 --> 00:54:09.033
This is all the produced water
that comes from the wells.

00:54:09.067 --> 00:54:11.467
The old-timers
called it \"drip gas.\"

00:54:11.500 --> 00:54:12.900
If you run out of gas
out in the desert

00:54:12.933 --> 00:54:14.233
bringing your herd
of sheep back,

00:54:14.267 --> 00:54:15.633
you fill your truck up
with drip gas

00:54:15.667 --> 00:54:16.700
and drive on to town,

00:54:16.733 --> 00:54:18.233
and that way
you don\'t have to walk.

00:54:18.267 --> 00:54:19.300
It\'d smoke like hell.

00:54:19.333 --> 00:54:22.267
It\'d make your motor ping,
but it\'d run,

00:54:22.300 --> 00:54:25.733
and you wouldn\'t be walking.

00:54:25.767 --> 00:54:27.900
They take the water
out of the tanks and stuff,

00:54:27.933 --> 00:54:29.667
they pump them out
into all those water lines

00:54:29.700 --> 00:54:32.200
laying on that black rubber
membrane down there,

00:54:32.233 --> 00:54:34.700
and little misters mist
the water up about two feet.

00:54:34.733 --> 00:54:36.400
When it comes down
and gets on the membrane,

00:54:36.433 --> 00:54:38.100
it evaporates almost instantly.

00:54:38.133 --> 00:54:43.000
To the pits and the evap,
about 20 to 30 acres.

00:54:43.033 --> 00:54:45.333
- Those chemicals again,
neurotoxicants.

00:54:45.367 --> 00:54:47.800
People complained when they
stepped out of their automobiles

00:54:47.833 --> 00:54:51.233
or out of their homes
that they got a whiff of some air,

00:54:51.267 --> 00:54:54.733
they collapsed, they shook,

00:54:54.767 --> 00:54:58.767
they seemed to have
loss of memory, dizziness.

00:54:59.933 --> 00:55:04.400
- In 1997, as Chris\' symptoms
were getting worse,

00:55:04.433 --> 00:55:07.233
a water well near the Mobaldi\'s
was blown out

00:55:07.267 --> 00:55:09.533
and contaminated by drilling.

00:55:09.567 --> 00:55:14.867
According to state records,
on September 15, 1997,

00:55:14.900 --> 00:55:17.700
Barrett Resources
lost well control

00:55:17.733 --> 00:55:20.600
while drilling
the Bernklau gas well.

00:55:20.633 --> 00:55:22.767
- Then the gas companies
came out

00:55:22.800 --> 00:55:24.467
and told everybody
not to drink the water,

00:55:24.500 --> 00:55:27.500
and they actually
started delivering water to us.

00:55:27.533 --> 00:55:29.100
Then they came back
and told us that,

00:55:29.133 --> 00:55:30.933
\"Your water\'s safe to drink.\"

00:55:30.967 --> 00:55:33.000
So we started drinking
the water again.

00:55:33.033 --> 00:55:36.500
- When the exposure is through
a water pathway,

00:55:36.533 --> 00:55:40.400
people are usually given an
alternate drinking water supply.

00:55:40.433 --> 00:55:41.700
You don\'t think of it,

00:55:41.733 --> 00:55:45.967
but there are a lot of sources
of water vapor in the house,

00:55:46.000 --> 00:55:48.967
your dishwasher,
every time you flush the toilet,

00:55:49.000 --> 00:55:51.267
and you breathe it in,

00:55:51.300 --> 00:55:53.667
and you absorb it
through your skin.

00:55:53.700 --> 00:55:56.300
Your dose of the volatile
organic compounds

00:55:56.333 --> 00:56:00.767
from the shower water
will be several times the dose

00:56:00.800 --> 00:56:03.233
you would have gotten
from the drinking water.

00:56:03.267 --> 00:56:06.200
- After we started thinking,
\"Hmm, something\'s not right,\"

00:56:06.233 --> 00:56:08.600
put a glass of water out
and left it sit overnight,

00:56:08.633 --> 00:56:11.900
and there was, like,
a little oil slick on top.

00:56:11.933 --> 00:56:13.900
And then -

00:56:17.733 --> 00:56:18.833
It burned.

00:56:23.000 --> 00:56:25.367
And this is the water that
they said was safe to drink.

00:56:25.400 --> 00:56:30.033
- She had a high thirst,

00:56:30.067 --> 00:56:32.967
and it makes her exposure
quite different than her husband\'s.

00:56:33.000 --> 00:56:36.800
Not only was she at the house
a much larger fraction of the time -

00:56:36.833 --> 00:56:37.833
he would go off to work -

00:56:37.867 --> 00:56:41.000
but she had a much higher use
of the well water.

00:56:41.033 --> 00:56:43.967
That was further exposure for her.

00:56:46.867 --> 00:56:52.100
- In desperation, Chris and Steve moved
to Grand Junction, Colorado,

00:56:52.133 --> 00:56:56.500
abandoning their home
and a place that had been their dream.

00:56:56.533 --> 00:57:00.133
- We just up and left the place,

00:57:00.167 --> 00:57:03.833
and it was valued at $440,000,

00:57:03.867 --> 00:57:06.567
and we just walked away from it.

00:57:06.600 --> 00:57:10.000
- And she reported
that she was somewhat better,

00:57:10.033 --> 00:57:11.633
by no means good,

00:57:11.667 --> 00:57:15.300
but, oh, perhaps 30%
or 40% improved

00:57:15.333 --> 00:57:17.400
being away from that home.

00:57:17.433 --> 00:57:20.367
And if she would go back
to retrieve some belongings

00:57:20.400 --> 00:57:26.367
or go to visit neighbors that they\'d had
in that previous home,

00:57:26.400 --> 00:57:28.800
she would feel sick
and fairly quickly.

00:57:30.233 --> 00:57:33.000
- For those living
in the path of drilling,

00:57:33.033 --> 00:57:37.300
years of anger and energy expended
dealing with the industry

00:57:37.333 --> 00:57:42.067
eventually gives way
to exhaustion and resignation.

00:57:43.567 --> 00:57:45.300
- If it\'s going to take you a year
to sell it

00:57:45.333 --> 00:57:47.200
or two years to sell it,

00:57:47.233 --> 00:57:50.800
then you\'re probably going
to let it go into foreclosure.

00:57:50.833 --> 00:57:52.273
You just throw your hands up
and say,

00:57:52.300 --> 00:57:53.833
\"To heck with it.

00:57:53.867 --> 00:57:56.633
I\'m just walking.\"

00:57:56.667 --> 00:57:59.533
- There are no official statistics
tracking people

00:57:59.567 --> 00:58:03.633
who have moved away because of the effects
of gas and oil development,

00:58:03.667 --> 00:58:07.833
but in the two Colorado communities
profiled in this film,

00:58:07.867 --> 00:58:10.967
the impact has been profound.

00:58:11.000 --> 00:58:14.600
There is a record of at least
nine Dry Hollow families

00:58:14.633 --> 00:58:17.567
who formally complained
about the drilling,

00:58:17.600 --> 00:58:20.467
and they have moved away.

00:58:20.500 --> 00:58:21.800
Some were afraid.

00:58:21.833 --> 00:58:23.333
Some were sick.

00:58:23.367 --> 00:58:27.200
All were exhausted
by their fight with the industry.

00:58:27.233 --> 00:58:32.700
Chris and Steve have seen the same thing
in their neighborhood in Rifle.

00:58:32.733 --> 00:58:35.633
- I think almost all of our neighbors
have moved away,

00:58:35.667 --> 00:58:39.100
and all the people
that occupy the houses now

00:58:39.133 --> 00:58:42.100
are all people
that work for the wells.

00:58:48.333 --> 00:58:49.333
- No Oil!

00:58:49.367 --> 00:58:50.667
No Gas!

00:58:50.700 --> 00:58:51.767
No Oil!

00:58:51.800 --> 00:58:56.300
- You\'re not about to compensate people
for full value of loss of their property.

00:58:56.333 --> 00:58:57.933
- And anybody in this room
that thinks...

00:58:57.967 --> 00:59:00.067
- There\'s a growing resistance
on the part of people

00:59:00.100 --> 00:59:02.000
who live in the path of drilling.

00:59:02.033 --> 00:59:03.533
- They\'re lying to us.

00:59:03.567 --> 00:59:08.300
- I object to any company
who will come in

00:59:08.333 --> 00:59:12.067
and drive people out of the homes
that we built with our own hands

00:59:12.100 --> 00:59:14.833
and homes that we have
every right to expect

00:59:14.867 --> 00:59:16.500
to live out our days in.

00:59:16.533 --> 00:59:19.433
[cheers and applause]

00:59:19.467 --> 00:59:22.833
- I have to say that living
with this development

00:59:22.867 --> 00:59:26.433
has affected our lives
in nearly every way imaginable.

00:59:26.467 --> 00:59:28.167
- With no other recourse,

00:59:28.200 --> 00:59:30.667
some landowners
have become activists.

00:59:30.700 --> 00:59:36.800
- My well was blown out
in July 18th of 2006.

00:59:36.833 --> 00:59:41.033
- Last summer while you folks probably had
air conditioners going on,

00:59:41.067 --> 00:59:44.600
I had to stay in my house
with a respirator on.

00:59:44.633 --> 00:59:49.467
- Well, I was offered a motel
for myself,

00:59:49.500 --> 00:59:50.633
you know, and some food.

00:59:50.667 --> 00:59:53.767
It doesn\'t help the situation.

00:59:53.800 --> 00:59:55.767
We all can\'t just move
into a motel.

00:59:55.800 --> 00:59:57.433
There\'s a lot of us.

00:59:57.467 --> 01:00:00.167
- Suddenly a crushing headache
overcame me,

01:00:00.200 --> 01:00:01.900
and I began to collapse.

01:00:01.933 --> 01:00:04.900
As I was falling,
I grabbed the top of my truck door

01:00:04.933 --> 01:00:08.600
and clung there
as my consciousness faded.

01:00:08.633 --> 01:00:13.233
- I think there\'s no question
that people are getting sick

01:00:13.267 --> 01:00:16.933
from the environmental effects
of oil and gas exploration

01:00:16.967 --> 01:00:19.767
and production
throughout the United States.

01:00:19.800 --> 01:00:21.067
And what\'s striking is,

01:00:21.100 --> 01:00:24.533
when you ask them
what their symptoms are,

01:00:24.567 --> 01:00:29.400
it\'s the same in one area
as it is in another area.

01:00:29.433 --> 01:00:31.800
- The next morning I awakened
to the meaning

01:00:31.833 --> 01:00:33.733
of being chemically sensitized.

01:00:33.767 --> 01:00:35.867
- He developed daily bloating.

01:00:35.900 --> 01:00:38.000
He developed nearly
daily headaches.

01:00:38.033 --> 01:00:39.967
- Bloody mucus from nose
and lungs.

01:00:40.000 --> 01:00:44.367
- And since then, he\'s 100% nerve damage
in his left leg,

01:00:44.400 --> 01:00:48.667
80% nerve damage
in his right leg.

01:00:48.700 --> 01:00:51.867
- So has the oil and gas
industry changed my life?

01:00:51.900 --> 01:00:52.967
Yes.

01:00:53.000 --> 01:00:56.500
It\'s caused me to lose my home,
my friends, my way of life,

01:00:56.533 --> 01:00:59.033
my health,
and my belief in my government.

01:00:59.067 --> 01:01:03.033
- This is an assault
on our health,

01:01:03.067 --> 01:01:06.433
on our well-being,
on our property values,

01:01:06.467 --> 01:01:08.667
and on our homes.

01:01:08.700 --> 01:01:13.167
And I no longer want to live
in western Colorado.

01:01:13.200 --> 01:01:18.033
My home of 33 years
is being systematically destroyed

01:01:18.067 --> 01:01:20.333
by an industry
that could not care less.

01:01:27.567 --> 01:01:30.600
- Oil and gas states
like New Mexico and Colorado

01:01:30.633 --> 01:01:34.067
are caught between intense pressure
from the federal government

01:01:34.100 --> 01:01:36.700
to lease more land for drilling

01:01:36.733 --> 01:01:40.800
and the desire to protect
the land and their citizens.

01:01:40.833 --> 01:01:45.767
In June of 2007, newly elected
Colorado governor Bill Ritter

01:01:45.800 --> 01:01:48.033
was faced with
a critical confrontation

01:01:48.067 --> 01:01:50.267
with the Bureau
of Land Management,

01:01:50.300 --> 01:01:52.933
an agency
of the Interior Department.

01:01:52.967 --> 01:01:59.000
They had authorized more than 1,500
new gas wells on the Roan Plateau,

01:01:59.033 --> 01:02:02.500
one of the last pristine areas
in Garfield County.

01:02:02.533 --> 01:02:05.567
- We just started
with a very modest request,

01:02:05.600 --> 01:02:07.700
120 days
for a new administration,

01:02:07.733 --> 01:02:08.933
and we were turned down,

01:02:08.967 --> 01:02:11.033
and we don\'t think 24 days
is enough

01:02:11.067 --> 01:02:15.567
for us to be able to really have
a thoughtful and prudent response.

01:02:15.600 --> 01:02:17.400
There\'s too much
that we don\'t know

01:02:17.433 --> 01:02:19.733
for us to be able
to really respond

01:02:19.767 --> 01:02:21.067
in a very short amount of time.

01:02:21.100 --> 01:02:24.833
- So that\'s why I\'m going to push very hard
with Secretary Kempthorne.

01:02:24.867 --> 01:02:27.367
I\'m going to ask him to grant
the governor the request

01:02:27.400 --> 01:02:29.733
that the governor has made of him.

01:02:29.767 --> 01:02:31.900
- In the summer of 2008,

01:02:31.933 --> 01:02:36.633
in spite of protests from Governor Ritter
and Colorado legislators,

01:02:36.667 --> 01:02:41.033
the Bureau of Land Management
went ahead with a federal auction

01:02:41.067 --> 01:02:44.000
of leases on the Roan Plateau.

01:02:44.033 --> 01:02:50.467
The entire top of the plateau,
55,000 acres, was leased.

01:02:50.500 --> 01:02:54.833
Nearly 15,000 citizens
sent protest letters,

01:02:54.867 --> 01:02:57.833
but the Bureau found
the protests to be without merit

01:02:57.867 --> 01:03:00.500
and issued the leases anyway.

01:03:00.533 --> 01:03:05.500
- It\'s clear that those who
do the mineral extraction

01:03:05.533 --> 01:03:07.967
know the risks
of mineral extraction.

01:03:08.000 --> 01:03:10.100
They don\'t know
the specific health effects,

01:03:10.133 --> 01:03:12.667
but they know
that this is an activity

01:03:12.700 --> 01:03:17.100
which impacts both
the environment and humanity.

01:03:17.133 --> 01:03:19.600
They\'ve known it
for many, many years.

01:03:19.633 --> 01:03:22.267
- It\'s unbelievable
that someone says toxic.

01:03:22.300 --> 01:03:24.100
I mean, the federal government -

01:03:24.133 --> 01:03:27.067
the federal government
and the state government will tell you,

01:03:27.100 --> 01:03:30.600
that stuff in the pit
is not hazardous and not toxic.

01:03:30.633 --> 01:03:32.067
- Well, that\'s not true.

01:03:32.100 --> 01:03:34.033
- A lot of the chemicals used
are proprietary.

01:03:34.067 --> 01:03:35.067
We don\'t know.

01:03:35.100 --> 01:03:36.100
Isn\'t that the case?

01:03:36.133 --> 01:03:37.900
- No, what is in that pit?

01:03:37.933 --> 01:03:42.533
What is in that pit is sand,
wood chips, drill bits, water,

01:03:42.567 --> 01:03:44.700
and gel that came out
of the hole.

01:03:44.733 --> 01:03:46.367
- And not any of
the fracking chemicals?

01:03:46.400 --> 01:03:48.133
- Well, the fracking chemicals
go in here.

01:03:48.167 --> 01:03:49.600
The fracking chemicals
are in there

01:03:49.633 --> 01:03:50.633
and when the fracking -

01:03:50.667 --> 01:03:52.500
- Much of that waste
isn\'t dredged right back up

01:03:52.533 --> 01:03:53.533
and put in the pits?

01:03:53.567 --> 01:03:54.567
- It\'s put in the pit,

01:03:54.600 --> 01:03:58.067
and it\'s not hazardous by definition
of the federal or state government.

01:03:58.100 --> 01:04:00.200
- Our goal is zero incidents

01:04:00.233 --> 01:04:03.900
and zero impact
on the environment,

01:04:03.933 --> 01:04:06.700
and we\'re not there, obviously.

01:04:06.733 --> 01:04:08.400
We do have injuries.

01:04:08.433 --> 01:04:10.867
We do have spills.

01:04:10.900 --> 01:04:13.467
But we try and prevent them,
and we do the best that we can.

01:04:13.500 --> 01:04:16.167
- It\'s not anymore dangerous
than walking across the road anywhere.

01:04:16.200 --> 01:04:19.367
I mean, you know, it\'s not -
no, it\'s not any more dangerous.

01:04:19.400 --> 01:04:20.467
This is natural gas.

01:04:20.500 --> 01:04:22.000
We\'re not talking oil
or oil spills.

01:04:22.033 --> 01:04:23.033
It\'s natural gas.

01:04:23.067 --> 01:04:24.700
No, it\'s not any more dangerous.

01:04:26.833 --> 01:04:29.100
- Today\'s hearing
will examine loopholes

01:04:29.133 --> 01:04:32.333
in federal health
and environmental protections

01:04:32.367 --> 01:04:36.200
that are exploited
by the oil and gas industry.

01:04:36.233 --> 01:04:39.167
As children, we all learned
about basic fairness

01:04:39.200 --> 01:04:40.600
and we know that it\'s not -

01:04:40.633 --> 01:04:44.333
just not fair when someone
gets to play by different rules

01:04:44.367 --> 01:04:46.067
than the rest of us.

01:04:46.100 --> 01:04:48.000
But as we will learn today,

01:04:48.033 --> 01:04:50.133
there is one set of
environmental rules

01:04:50.167 --> 01:04:52.367
for the oil and gas industry

01:04:52.400 --> 01:04:55.767
and a different set of rules
for the rest of America.

01:04:55.800 --> 01:05:00.167
- Mr. Waxman and members
of the committee, good morning.

01:05:00.200 --> 01:05:03.567
I am here to speak as an
environmental health analyst

01:05:03.600 --> 01:05:06.567
and as a resident
of western Colorado,

01:05:06.600 --> 01:05:08.967
whose watershed
and air are being threatened

01:05:09.000 --> 01:05:12.567
by natural gas production
and delivery.

01:05:12.600 --> 01:05:15.267
I had no intention of getting involved
with natural gas development

01:05:15.300 --> 01:05:16.533
when I began in 2002.

01:05:16.567 --> 01:05:19.033
- Good morning, chairman Waxman,
Mr. Davis,

01:05:19.067 --> 01:05:20.133
ladies and gentlemen.

01:05:20.167 --> 01:05:21.633
My name is Steve Mobaldi.

01:05:21.667 --> 01:05:25.300
My wife Elizabeth and I moved to
Rifle, Colorado, in June of \'95

01:05:25.333 --> 01:05:26.600
to a ten-acre ranch.

01:05:26.633 --> 01:05:28.433
Soon after, the oil
and gas industry moved in.

01:05:28.467 --> 01:05:31.667
- Somehow the federal government\'s
got to be involved in that,

01:05:31.700 --> 01:05:34.400
that this isn\'t something
the states can do.

01:05:34.433 --> 01:05:37.633
- Definitely, because this
chemical testing is expensive.

01:05:37.667 --> 01:05:39.300
States don\'t have the money.

01:05:39.333 --> 01:05:42.233
- Would you think it would be hard
to find these chemicals

01:05:42.267 --> 01:05:44.833
if you waited for years
to sample them?

01:05:44.867 --> 01:05:46.433
- Definitely, yes.

01:05:46.467 --> 01:05:47.467
- Why does it -

01:05:47.500 --> 01:05:50.767
do you know why it takes so long
to do the testing?

01:05:50.800 --> 01:05:53.833
- Because this isn\'t what
you traditionally test for.

01:05:53.867 --> 01:05:56.367
- Are we not doing enough
basic research into this area?

01:05:56.400 --> 01:05:57.400
- We are not.

01:05:57.433 --> 01:06:00.800
They\'re slipping through
our safety net, truly.

01:06:06.533 --> 01:06:09.533
- There have been many attempts
to create more balance

01:06:09.567 --> 01:06:13.900
between the interests of industry
and those of surface owners.

01:06:13.933 --> 01:06:20.067
Due in part to the activism of landowners
in Colorado and New Mexico,

01:06:20.100 --> 01:06:22.900
new legislation was passed
in both states

01:06:22.933 --> 01:06:26.567
giving landowners
some new rights,

01:06:26.600 --> 01:06:30.767
but for industry, it is still
essentially business as usual.

01:06:30.800 --> 01:06:35.833
The pace of new drilling
continues to accelerate unabated.

01:06:35.867 --> 01:06:39.667
Attempts at regulatory change
at the federal level

01:06:39.700 --> 01:06:41.767
have not been as successful.

01:06:41.800 --> 01:06:43.167
- The energy bill
that was passed

01:06:43.200 --> 01:06:46.267
by the House of Representatives
in 2007

01:06:46.300 --> 01:06:49.133
did include additional
protections for surface owners

01:06:49.167 --> 01:06:53.767
when the oil and gas is owned
by the federal government.

01:06:53.800 --> 01:06:57.867
Those provisions unfortunately
did not make it into law.

01:06:57.900 --> 01:07:00.467
- In the spring of 2007,

01:07:00.500 --> 01:07:04.733
Governor Bill Ritter signed
one of the new Colorado bills.

01:07:04.767 --> 01:07:07.267
It changed the makeup
of the state commission

01:07:07.300 --> 01:07:09.467
that regulates the industry.

01:07:09.500 --> 01:07:13.733
The ceremony was attended by
some of the residents of Garfield County.

01:07:13.767 --> 01:07:15.533
- So the poison is in
your hands too?

01:07:15.567 --> 01:07:17.667
- Uh-huh.

01:07:17.700 --> 01:07:19.000
- Are they in your feet, too?

01:07:19.033 --> 01:07:21.267
Do your feet have a lot of pain
and itching?

01:07:21.300 --> 01:07:22.667
Mine are awful.

01:07:22.700 --> 01:07:26.267
[applause]

01:07:26.300 --> 01:07:30.300
- House Bill 1341 may be one
of the most significant things

01:07:30.333 --> 01:07:33.400
that we accomplished
in this legislative session.

01:07:33.433 --> 01:07:36.933
It reorganized the Colorado Oil
and Gas Conservation Commission,

01:07:36.967 --> 01:07:39.633
and we believe it brings
a better balance to the commission

01:07:39.667 --> 01:07:44.167
so that it\'s not dominated
by any one interest group.

01:07:44.200 --> 01:07:46.533
But we\'re gonna be responsible
as we move forward.

01:07:46.567 --> 01:07:48.300
We\'re gonna be mindful
of the impact

01:07:48.333 --> 01:07:50.700
as the number of
drilling applications climb

01:07:50.733 --> 01:07:53.733
and as the number of
impact complaints climb as well.

01:07:56.867 --> 01:07:59.867
[applause]

01:08:08.267 --> 01:08:09.967
Hey, how are you doing?

01:08:11.400 --> 01:08:12.933
I\'m okay.

01:08:29.233 --> 01:08:31.333
Yes, I understand.

01:08:31.367 --> 01:08:37.633
- Half of the state of Colorado or more
sits above a gas-bearing zone,

01:08:37.667 --> 01:08:41.767
and so this is an issue
that will be with us

01:08:41.800 --> 01:08:43.300
for many, many years to come,

01:08:43.333 --> 01:08:45.600
and the decisions
that we make today

01:08:45.633 --> 01:08:50.900
are going to define
how this will all transpire

01:08:50.933 --> 01:08:52.967
over the next 20 years.

01:08:53.000 --> 01:08:55.467
- I hope the people
of this state -

01:08:55.500 --> 01:08:59.100
I hope the people of this state
look at the fact

01:08:59.133 --> 01:09:03.167
that today we have close to 5,000 wells
that have been drilled.

01:09:03.200 --> 01:09:05.300
That\'s just
in the northwestern area.

01:09:05.333 --> 01:09:07.967
And if you look down
the road 15 years

01:09:08.000 --> 01:09:11.167
and you start contemplating
60,000 wells -

01:09:11.200 --> 01:09:12.700
60,000 wells -

01:09:12.733 --> 01:09:13.733
what does that do?

01:09:14.767 --> 01:09:16.200
- Am I too much on you?

01:09:16.233 --> 01:09:18.067
- Oh, no, I could carry you.

01:09:18.100 --> 01:09:19.233
- No, we\'re fine.

01:09:19.267 --> 01:09:22.933
Here come stairs, Chris.
- Steps.

01:09:22.967 --> 01:09:25.967
- [crying]

01:09:27.133 --> 01:09:28.900
- Do you need help
to get your legs in,

01:09:28.933 --> 01:09:30.967
or can you get them in
by yourself?

01:09:43.167 --> 01:09:46.000
- Williams is going to
have to respectfully decline

01:09:46.033 --> 01:09:49.000
to participate in your project.

01:09:49.033 --> 01:09:52.033
We struggled with this decision,
but we feel like...

01:09:52.067 --> 01:09:58.433
- I need to let you know
that we transfer all video

01:09:58.467 --> 01:10:01.133
and radio media contacts
over to...

01:10:01.167 --> 01:10:03.833
- Well, I think at this point,
no, I\'m not interested.

01:10:03.867 --> 01:10:06.067
At this particular point,
I don\'t think there is a story.

01:10:06.100 --> 01:10:08.367
- We do wish you the best
in your endeavors,

01:10:08.400 --> 01:10:11.167
and thank you
for your consideration.

01:10:16.533 --> 01:10:18.400
- As in the Rocky Mountains,

01:10:18.433 --> 01:10:21.967
the growth of domestic drilling
is beginning to impact people

01:10:22.000 --> 01:10:26.967
and places across America
in ways never imagined.

01:10:27.000 --> 01:10:32.133
Oil companies are seeking
new leases in 32 states.

01:10:32.167 --> 01:10:37.333
Since 1990, hundreds of thousands
of new wells have been drilled,

01:10:37.367 --> 01:10:41.433
and the pace of development
is accelerating.

01:10:41.467 --> 01:10:46.900
Incredibly, drilling is now planned
in the New York City watershed,

01:10:46.933 --> 01:10:52.367
which provides drinking water
to millions.

01:10:52.400 --> 01:10:56.967
But some feel
it doesn\'t have to be this way.

01:10:57.000 --> 01:11:00.567
- Technology is available for industry
to comply with all these laws

01:11:00.600 --> 01:11:03.867
and to conduct their business
in a much cleaner way.

01:11:03.900 --> 01:11:07.933
It\'s often affordable,
and it\'s often profitable.

01:11:07.967 --> 01:11:10.267
- We can make them do it better.

01:11:10.300 --> 01:11:15.433
The profits now in the industry
are so high

01:11:15.467 --> 01:11:20.467
that there\'s no reason why they can\'t start
using some new technology,

01:11:20.500 --> 01:11:25.533
develop the new technology
to capture the escaping gases,

01:11:25.567 --> 01:11:26.833
the VOCs,

01:11:26.867 --> 01:11:30.400
but also to do something
with that water.

01:11:30.433 --> 01:11:33.200
- When they capture
these hazardous substances,

01:11:33.233 --> 01:11:37.033
they can also capture
more of their salable product.

01:11:37.067 --> 01:11:40.867
- We need data,
and we need data on animals.

01:11:40.900 --> 01:11:42.467
We need data on humans.

01:11:42.500 --> 01:11:45.200
We need data on the population.

01:11:45.233 --> 01:11:50.133
And that requires, again, money,
a plan, you know,

01:11:50.167 --> 01:11:51.167
and doing it.

01:11:52.900 --> 01:11:55.400
- Let\'s work on alternatives.

01:11:55.433 --> 01:12:00.467
Let\'s serve the country
through alternative energy.

01:12:00.500 --> 01:12:01.800
- We all use energy.

01:12:01.833 --> 01:12:03.533
We all know we need energy.

01:12:03.567 --> 01:12:06.333
There are a lot better ways
we could do energy,

01:12:06.367 --> 01:12:10.033
and I\'d like to see us move
towards a clean energy future.

01:12:10.067 --> 01:12:12.933
- What\'s most important is for Congress
to close these loopholes

01:12:12.967 --> 01:12:15.067
and to hold
the oil and gas industry

01:12:15.100 --> 01:12:17.167
to the same standards
as other industries.

01:12:17.200 --> 01:12:19.100
- If the industry waits,

01:12:19.133 --> 01:12:20.533
15 years down the road,

01:12:20.567 --> 01:12:24.300
they\'re going to be answering
some very hard questions to a jury

01:12:24.333 --> 01:12:26.967
and to a number of plaintiffs saying,

01:12:27.000 --> 01:12:28.633
\"You know,
when it was so inexpensive

01:12:28.667 --> 01:12:33.467
\"to put some of these
pollution control equipment and practices

01:12:33.500 --> 01:12:35.167
\"on your operation,

01:12:35.200 --> 01:12:38.100
\"why, when you knew
that there were sicknesses,

01:12:38.133 --> 01:12:39.700
why didn\'t you do it?\"

01:13:20.733 --> 01:13:22.967
- ♪ Seems like a good time ♪

01:13:23.000 --> 01:13:25.133
♪ To stand up ♪

01:13:25.167 --> 01:13:28.100
♪ For love in other forms ♪

01:13:28.133 --> 01:13:30.333
♪ We would do fine ♪

01:13:30.367 --> 01:13:32.200
♪ To be still ♪

01:13:32.233 --> 01:13:35.567
♪ In the quiet of our hearts ♪

01:13:35.600 --> 01:13:37.633
♪ We would do great ♪

01:13:37.667 --> 01:13:39.800
♪ To come together ♪

01:13:39.833 --> 01:13:42.633
♪ And listen for the smallest voice ♪

01:13:42.667 --> 01:13:44.767
♪ And welcome her home ♪

01:13:44.800 --> 01:13:46.500
♪ With us ♪

01:13:46.533 --> 01:13:50.167
♪ To safe haven ♪

01:13:50.200 --> 01:13:52.267
♪ Seems like a good time ♪

01:13:52.300 --> 01:13:54.900
♪ To reach out ♪

01:13:54.933 --> 01:13:57.667
♪ Well beyond our comforts ♪

01:13:57.700 --> 01:13:59.733
♪ We would do fine ♪

01:13:59.767 --> 01:14:01.833
♪ To spend time ♪

01:14:01.867 --> 01:14:05.233
♪ With our strong hands in the soil ♪

01:14:05.267 --> 01:14:07.267
♪ We would do great ♪

01:14:07.300 --> 01:14:08.833
♪ To be done ♪

01:14:08.867 --> 01:14:13.100
♪ Making a world of powers over ♪

01:14:13.133 --> 01:14:20.133
♪ For we have always known
the good way ahead ♪

01:14:22.133 --> 01:14:26.333
♪ We can be all this and more ♪

01:14:29.600 --> 01:14:35.700
♪ We can be what we
have always dreamed of ♪

01:14:37.200 --> 01:14:41.300
♪ We can be all this and more ♪

01:14:44.700 --> 01:14:50.233
♪ We can be what we
have always dreamed of ♪

01:14:50.267 --> 01:14:52.500
♪ Yes we can ♪

01:15:01.467 --> 01:15:03.800
♪ Seems like a good time ♪

01:15:03.833 --> 01:15:06.067
♪ To kneel down ♪

01:15:06.100 --> 01:15:09.033
♪ And honor the holy mountains ♪

01:15:09.067 --> 01:15:11.133
♪ We would do fine ♪

01:15:11.167 --> 01:15:13.133
♪ To learn songs ♪

01:15:13.167 --> 01:15:16.367
♪ From the blue and sacred waters ♪

01:15:16.400 --> 01:15:18.433
♪ We would do great ♪

01:15:18.467 --> 01:15:20.633
♪ To ask the stars ♪

01:15:20.667 --> 01:15:23.400
♪ To teach us how to dream again ♪

01:15:23.433 --> 01:15:26.233
♪ And take our place ♪

01:15:26.267 --> 01:15:30.467
♪ Back in the great circle ♪

01:15:33.067 --> 01:15:37.067
♪ We can be all this and more ♪

01:15:40.667 --> 01:15:46.667
♪ We can be what we
have always dreamed of ♪

01:15:48.167 --> 01:15:52.367
♪ We can be all this and more ♪

01:15:55.633 --> 01:16:01.400
♪ We can be what we
have always dreamed of ♪

01:16:01.433 --> 01:16:04.000
♪ Yes we can ♪