Rural Impact!: What to expect from the gas industry & how to address it
Documentary by Aurielle Andhara & Bill Sitkin
Two Cent Films & Crestone Media
crestonemedia@gmail.com
Rural Impact! is the journey made by two film makers, Aurielle Andhara and Bill Sitkin into the heart of the beast.
The journey has become a race to educate residents of the San Luis Valley about a virtually unregulated oil industry that knows only one end, profit, and that counts ruined lives and communities as acceptable losses.
With in-depth interviews of county officials, scientists and residents, Rural Impact! strives to find a balance between the needs of the environment and the demands of a society addicted to non-renewable energy resources. Although the focus is centred in Colorado, the story is being repeated throughout the world. The industry moves fast, with assurances of minimal environmental, economic and social impact but the reality is the exact opposite.
"What is needed is common sense people to stand up to them", states a frustrated Don Kramer, mayor of De Beque, Colorado. His community has endured countless horrors from chemical spills to contaminated drinking water.
Many communities up and down the gas patch have stories that lead one to believe a war is being waged in their backyards. It is only recently that Colorado lawmakers are trying to find a balance between the traditional long-term economics of tourism, ranching and farming and a short-term economic gain that will compromise these traditional values long after the industry has left.
We are slowly learning and coming to terms with our headlong rush into an unknown future. If we are to survive we must slow down and let our common sense be our guide not our impulse for more. We are running out of resources and there are no other planets to ravage.