Fracking documentary ‘Triple Divide’ comes to Tioga County; volunteers sought to monitor streams

Although fracking has been delayed in New York State over concerns about public health, the issue is very much alive in counties along the State’s Southern Tier. Some of these counties could become a “sacrifice zone” should Governor Cuomo eventually authorize unconventional gas drilling.

The health problems associated with fracking become especially alarming when viewed from the perspective of a “frack map” showing which properties in the Southern Tier have already been leased to the drilling companies.

To better acquaint residents of the Southern Tier with the health risks they are likely to face from fracking, the New York Water Sentinels, an affiliate of the Sierra Club, is sponsoring a showing of Triple Divide, a critically acclaimed documentary that describes the impact of gas drilling on residents living near the more than 7,000 frack sites in Pennsylvania. Using film footage of neighbors next door to property leased to the gas companies for fracking, the movie provides a vivid record of ordinary people describing health problems they encountered after the drilling began.

Triple Divide will be shown on Tuesday, Sept. 30, at 6 p.m. in Tioga’s Hubbard Auditorium, located in the County Office Building, 56 Main St., Owego. Entrance is free to the public, although donations to support the work of the New York Water Sentinels will be accepted.

Triple Divide’s namesake, the Eastern Continental Divide in Pennsylvania, is one of four unique points in North America where three major watersheds intersect; water from here flows in three directions, providing drinking water for millions of people downstream.

Since December of 2011, the New York Water Sentinels have organized and trained six regional groups. To date, 160 volunteers have made over 1,500 visits to document conditions at 125 stream sites. Streams being monitored span 12 counties and six major watersheds across the Southern Tier. The Sentinels are now ready to expand their coverage of the Marcellus Shale to include every location where fracking may occur in New York State.

With the showing of this movie, the New York Water Sentinels is looking to convince neighbors living near leased land in Tioga County that it is in their interest to monitor the water quality of streams that could affect them. As citizen science volunteers, Tioga County residents, using special monitoring equipment, will learn how to collect scientifically accurate information on stream health that will be logged into a master database for the entire Southern Tier. When complete, the assembled data from hundreds of volunteers will comprise a critically needed baseline that can be used to identify sources of pollution should fracking start in New York State.

Triple Divide is the fruit of a three-year investigation by Public Herald journalists Joshua Pribanic and Melissa Troutman, who researched government and industry data to gather first-hand testimony from leaseholders and citizens.

“The public isn’t seeing the full impact of fracking in any state where drilling is taking place, because regulators are mismanaging data and decisions are being made based on politics instead of science,” says Pribanic.

“The water impacts we encountered in Triple Divide are systemic, not isolated to a single state. Before fracking starts in New York State, the public has an opportunity to learn how to protect the state’s water resources by studying what is happening elsewhere,” he added.

Academy Award-nominated actor Mark Ruffalo co-narrates the documentary and added his voice to the project after seeing the film just weeks before its release in March 2013. Ruffalo’s nonprofit Water Defense investigates water testing and protection measures. He’s also co-founder of the Solutions Project.

Pribanic and Troutman are touring their documentary across the U.S. after winning a grant from the California-based nonprofit Investigative News Network, with support from the James L. Knight Foundation and Tesla Motors. On their trip, they expect to surpass 10,000 road miles in a Tesla Model S, a long-range, all-electric sedan. Their goal is to cross the U.S. using zero gasoline and emitting zero greenhouse gas pollution.

For more details, visit tripledividefilm.org/screenings. For video clips see TripleDivideFilm.org and stay tuned @PublicHerald with #TripleDivide.