Gas Land (2010)

           If you think that natural gas is a clean alternative to oil, this documentary film will disabuse you of that widespread myth. When writer-director Josh Fox received an inquiry from an energy company to lease his woodsy Pennsylvania property for $100,000 up front, he was suspicious. And for good reason. Armed with a camera, persistence, and commitment to a cause, he documents the horrendous environmental degradation to land, air, and water caused by "hydraulic fracturing," the process that's used to extract natural gas from tens of thousands of wells around the country. "Fracking" pumps a toxic cocktail of 596 (!) chemicals into the ground to expedite the release of natural gas. And no, energy companies don't care about the lives or lands that they ruin. We watch kitchen faucets and polluted marshes burst into flame, we watch the government give huge concessions to companies like Halliburton, and we watch "experts" lie before congress as they deny the obvious. GasLand was nominated for an Oscar as best documentary film in 2011, and won the special jury prize at Sundance.