The Daily Show with Jon Stewart has taken a look into fracking and has uncovered the “minor downsides” to natural gas extraction.
In a segment that aired March 27 on the satirical comedy show, correspondent Aasif Mandvi interviewed local residents of Bradford County, PA and - for a pro-industry point of view - Marita Noon, the executive director of the pro-fracking group Energy Makes America Great, Inc.
“Fracking has ruined our quality of life,” one Bradford County resident said.
“Our water contamination here is moving through all of Bradford County,” another added.
“I had rashes, neurological problems, sleep disruption,” a third continued.
Noon, who is self-described as “America’s voice for energy”, doesn’t see a problem with fracking and said the oil and gas companies are doing a good job of regulating themselves.
“Is there a way that oil and gas companies could be better than they are?” Mandvi asked.
“I would say no, actually,” she responded. “These oil and gas producers that are there care about the community.”
So what are the residents of Bradford County so angry about then? Their county only has 1,100 active wells and 696 violations, a small amount compared to the “teeny tiny snafus” such as earthquakes, well explosions, pipeline punctuations that have been happening all across the country.
When a well exploded in Greene County, PA killing one person, Chevron “came to the rescue with immediate compensation”: they offered 100 residents $12 gift certificates to a local pizzeria.
Taking a page out of Chevron’s book, when the residents seemed to be getting upset, Mandvi offered them a pizza.
“We want our water back. Period,” one resident demanded. “We want our life back. We don’t want your pizza.”
Take a look for yourself: