Split Estate

In July of 2006, I read a story in OnEarth magazine, published by the Natural Resources Defense Council, that was so moving to me that I left my editing room to shoot my first fi lm. It was about a woman named Laura Amos from Garfield County, in Colorado, the state where I grew up. Laura had developed a rare form of cancer as a result of natural gas drilling in her neighborhood. She became an activist in her community and then a plaintiff, when she sued the company responsible for her problems. After years of struggle, she was silenced. She came to a monetary settlement with Encana Corporation, which stipulated that she not tell her story ever again. But this, I knew, was a story that needed to be told far and wide. I could not believe that an energy company could come in on land that you own, and drill at will without your permission as close as 150 feet from your front door. I also couldn’t believe that the gas and oil industry’s practices, which include a chemical process called hydraulic fracturing or ‘fracking’, are largely unregulated and making people sick. I called residents in Garfi eld County, recommended by the Oil and Gas Accountability Project, rented some camera equipment and drove up to Colorado. I did not know at the time that it would become a full-length fi lm, but was drawn into the story immediately when I met the people of the western slope of Colorado. Their communities had been shattered by the industry and their stories were heartbreaking. I saw that beautiful wild areas where I had camped with my father as a child were now pin-cushioned with gas wells. Much to my surprise, the story of oil and gas in the Rockies became a very personal one for me, merely nine months into filming. Tecton Energy came into Santa Fe County and began drilling in the Galisteo Basin a few miles from my home in New Mexico. Ultimately, a rough cut of the fi lm was used as an educational tool by a grassroots coalition in Santa Fe County to help establish one of the strongest ordinances in the country and the industry backed off for the time being. Today, however, the crisis deepens and the film is more relevant than ever to communities in the US and beyond, as natural gas development ramps up all over the globe. Natural gas is being sold to the American public as the answer to all of our energy woes. It’s championed as “the clean fossil fuel,” and “the transition fuel,” as we look to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and our dependence on foreign oil. But, there is no such thing as a “clean” fossil fuel; nor, is there clean extraction, as citizens on the frontlines of the drilling boom will attest. It was always my intent to get the fi lm in the hands of the people and communities that need it most. Now, the Split Estate outreach campaign is drawing upon the storytelling of the film and the resources we have developed to educate communities about the true costs and long-term consequences of socially and environmentally irresponsible drilling. I hope the fi lm will empower citizens to take action, and that it will do its part to catalyze progressive shifts in local and federal energy policy.