Binghamton, NY – Documentary filmmaker and Windsor, New York resident Aaron Price tells the story of a struggling community whose future could be dramatically improved if natural gas development were permitted in New York’s Marcellus Shale in his film Gas Odyssey, debuting Friday, April 16, in Binghamton, New York.
The film chronicles the struggles of upstate New Yorkers facing economic hardships and how the production of natural gas in their backyards could dramatically improve their lives.
“After months of talking with small business owners, teachers, community leaders, legislators, workers and others about issues surrounding drilling the Marcellus Shale, I felt it was important to help the voices of average Americans be heard,” said Aaron Price, Windsor, NY resident and filmmaker. “My hope is that as a result of this film, people will go forward educated and informed, and will be able to make decisions based on fact, and not on hype and misinformation.”
When confronted with a decision on whether or not to develop natural gas reserves within his family’s 40 plus acres, Price schooled himself through books, newspapers and talking with professionals in the industry so that he could “ask his own questions.” Realizing that “we have a world class energy resource in our own backyards” that’s prohibited by a statewide moratorium on gas drilling, and “watching communities transform over the border in Pennsylvania, where drilling has created jobs, community investments, and hope, while New York communities are in a freefall,” was too much for Price to bear without taking action.
The film explores the concerns around hydraulic fracturing, the process making natural gas production possible in this area, aiming to provide facts about the process and its safety from experts in this field. “This issue stopped being about science and facts a long time ago,” said Price. “It has become a political monster, and my hope is that this film will transcend politics and restore basic rights to New Yorkers – to develop their land through a tried and true, safe technology.”
WHO: Aaron Price, Filmmaker
WHAT: Documentary: “Gas Odyssey”
WHERE: West Middle School, Binghamton, NY
WHEN: Friday, April 16, 2010, 7 pm, Reception to follow