Since our report on the documentary film"Gasland II" aired on Monday, August 12th, the story has generated online buzz. We’ve received emails and tweets from people across the country as well as Facebook posts and online comments.
Much of this traffic has been in response to the full unedited interview we did with “GasLand” director Josh Fox. (At the bottom of our story, here: http://bit.ly/18o9kkb) A majority of the reaction appears to be coming from people with knowledge of on-going controversies surrounding Fox’s "GasLand." Here is a brief backstory:
Irish filmmaker Phelim McAleer released a documentary directly challenging the first "GasLand" film. McAleer’s"FrackNation" came out earlier this year. In it, McAleer raises questions about a critical document; a drilling lease shown in "GasLand." McAleer says the document has a different history. "FrackNation" claims it was actually put together by a group of landowners in Fox’s area, the North Wayne County Property Owners’ Alliance (NWPOA) and not, as Josh Fox says in "GasLand," provided by an oil and gas company.
In our interview (at the bottom of our story, here: http://bit.ly/18o9kkb) with "GasLand" director Fox, we asked about the lease. The question drew a strong reply from Fox. When asked about the lease, Fox asked to stop the recording, we declined. The tone of the interview changed at this point and Fox went on to say he and his father were a part of negotiations over the lease with the NWPOA. That is a detail is not included in "GasLand." Fox told us he and his father pulled out at the last minute.
Portions of our interview with Josh Fox interview (without our knowledge or sanction) were then added into a short video by McAleer.
Since we posted the interview, we’ve heard from the NWPOA. They say Fox… nor his father… were ever members. We’ve asked Josh Fox for his response and have not yet received a response on Friday, August 16th, a representative for Fox passed on this statement:
"Yes. We became members August 30th 2008 and dropped out formally in 2009. Here is the email addressed to my father's email address from NWPOA which proves our membership.” Attached you will find the email with Michael’s domain redacted.
You can see that image here on the right hand side of this article. Aspen Public Radio has asked NWPOA for their response.
In the meantime, conservative publication The Daily Caller has picked up the story, which you can read here.
