Triple Divide

Triple Divide: Fracking Documentary Premieres

Public Herald investigative journalists Joshua Pribanic and Melissa Troutman announce the official World Premiere of their debut documentary, Triple Divide, Saturday, March 9, 2013 at the historic Coudersport Theatre, 11 North Main Street, downtown Coudersport, Pennsylvania.

Triple Divide deconstructs the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) handling of shale gas development. Touted as a modern day gold rush for landowners, the controversial technology of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) shatters shale formations to release trapped fossil fuel resources.

Pribanic and Troutman take audiences on a cradle-to-grave journey to uncover how DEP and industry have handled violations within Pennsylvania’s highest classified watersheds, what happened in the 2011 Bradford County Blowout, water contamination complaints, health issues, and the split-estate landowner dispute.  

After being accosted by contractors for Seneca Resources in Tioga State Forest during production of the film — an event  shared in the chapter “Ecoterrorism” — Troutman knows all too well how contentious the issue of fracking is. “Americans have been told from the beginning of this boom, which has already been a bust for many, that there will be ‘winners’ and ‘losers.’ I firmly believe that whether ‘winner’ or ‘loser,’ everyone is entitled to the same fundamental rights of ‘Liberty and Justice, for All.’ When it comes to shale gas extraction and development, that’s not happening.”

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“Of the 5 films I have seen on fracking (Split Estate, Gasland, Promised Land, Fracknation, Triple Divide) this one is the best at showing a slice of the all-too-real and desperate situation as it relates to water and fracking,” said Robert Donnan, who took part in a Pittsburgh test-screening in February.  

Triple Divide recently found a friend in Hollywood when critically-acclaimed actor Mark Ruffalo joined Troutman as co-narrator.

It’s name comes from Pennsylvania’s triple continental divide, one of only four in North America, giving birth to the Allegheny and Genesee Rivers, as well as Pine Creek — that joins the West Branch of the Susquehanna River. These three rivers flow to three separate sides of the continent: north to Lake Ontario, southeast to the Chesapeake Bay, and south west to the Gulf of Mexico. For Triple Divide, everything is downstream.

The film was shot and edited by Pribanic in his first feature length project. “Triple Divide is a clear example of how investigative reporting can unlock the moral deficiencies of an industry shrouded by the state. It’s a film to let the public know we are out there, ready and willing to tell the truth, to tell their story.”

Pribanic also points to the need for public accountability, quoting a shocking string of untold stories in the shale fields of PA. “I’ve been in conversations where parents without health insurance are experiencing water contamination after fracking and forced to ‘doctor up’ un-drinkable water using Kool-Aid for the children or coffee for adults. It’s criminal.”

The Premiere of Triple Divide begins at 2:00 PM sharp. Both filmmakers, who also co-founded the investigative news non-profit Public Herald, will present the film and conclude after discussion at 4:00 PM. From there the audience is encouraged to enjoy dinner at one of several nearby restaurants and then a special live performance at The Crittenden Hotel at 7:30 PM.

Suggested donations at the doors. For clips of the film and more, visit www.tripledividefilm.org, and go to the Video page. Also, follow @PublicHerald on Twitter, or Facebook to stay informed about Triple Divide — and #TripleDivide for reference on twitter. 

by Robert Donnan 02/16/13

This evening – right across from West Penn Hospital… (Free street parking) 

 I had the privilege of seeing the pre-release version of TRIPLE DIVIDE yesterday.  My critique would include:

‘Exceptional’…   ‘Timely’…   ‘Valuable’…   ‘Alarming’

A clarion’s call…

It’s my sincere hope this film will receive widespread support and distribution. Of the 5 films I have seen on fracking (Split Estate, Gasland, Promised Land, Fracknation) this one is the best at showing a slice of the all-too-real and desperate situation as it relates to water and fracking, using exceptional documentation and analysis backed by extensive file reviews at the Pa. DEP.  It will give you a fresh look at onsite burials of what I call ‘toxic teabags’ at drill sites, even when it isn’t supposed to happen.

With much of the focus on Potter County, Pa. you come away with an in-depth sense of the inner workings of the industry and the DEP. (Violations have been recorded at 85% of the drill sites in Potter).  Without its superb visual artistic elements, this documentary would remind you of an episode of ‘60 Minutes’ which is just what you would expect from two sharp investigative reporters who have been producing this film for 2 years. Another huge plus: Industry bulldogs from EID and their ilk will find it impossible to tear down this film due to its fact-based core and ultimate thoroughness. Bravo!

Melissa’s Testimony begins at 11:40

House Democratic Policy Chairman Mike Sturla, D-Lancaster announced the public hearing to look at the Pa. Department of Environmental Protection’s accountability standards regarding environmental testing following natural gas drilling.

State Rep. Jesse White, D- Allegheny/Beaver/Washington, requested the hearing and will serve as its co-chairman. White recently introduced H.B. 268 that would require DEP to disclose the full testing results, including raw data and documentation, of any environmental tests conducted by the department on a landowner’s or leaseholder’s property in Pennsylvania.

Triple Divide: As new film shows, everything’s downstream

Dear Triple Divide supporter,

This is not a picture of the studio that critically-acclaimed actor Mark Ruffalo had to record in to narrate part of Triple Divide. It is, however, the closet-turned-studio that Melissa had to record her narration in. She’s not complaining though - instead she’s thankful (and authoring this memo while referring to herself in the third person.)

Melissa and Joshua are both thankful that Mark and sound engineer Elias Gwinn made time (on the fly) to help create a new, improved final narration for Triple Divide…just this morning. Ruffalo has spent a lot of time speaking up for shalefield families in distress and for that we have mad respect. Elias, a.k.a. Velidoxi, is a mad sound scientist hell bent on creating substrates to build and coalesce. Together they came on a mild winter day in NYC to contribute to this project - thanks guys.

Which means - Josh and Melissa are (gratefully) back in the editing room, and those of you who’ve already donated to the film will have to wait in further anticipation of what we are dying to send out to you all! For those of you who watched the uncut version of the film we sent on New Years Day, the final cut is slimmer, transformed, and ready to fight.

Everyone who’s test screened Triple Divide so far has agreed that the film is beautifully shot. And for that, the vision of artist, journalist, and now documentary filmmaker Joshua Pribanic deserves full credit.

Me - I’m just a girl with a nice voice and bone to pick from Potter County, Pennsylvania (now referring to herself in the first person) without a website to link to, who thinks Stephen Cleghorn is the shit. (See Triple Divide.)

Thank you all for your support and for being patient - we’ll have Triple Divide to you very soon!

PS - Massive thanks to John Trallo and Ralph Kisberg for their guidance, kindness, spirits, and spare beds…

Peace & elbow grease,

Melissa (& approved by Josh)

Triple Divide: A True Story

With high-profile activists like Yoko Ono and Sean Lennon taking a stand against fracking, the controversial drilling practice has been pulled from the periphery and placed in the public’s main line-of-sight at a scale sparking movement from Hollywood.  Promised Land, a film starring Matt Damon as a salesman for a natural gas company, hits theaters tonight, lending cinematic drama to the issue of fracking.  While the large-scale exposure is valuable, Melissa Troutman, co-creator of another film on fracking, is careful to iterate an important fact, “Promised Land is a story, but this [Triple Divide] is a true story.”

Triple Divide, a documentary by Joshua Pribanic and Melissa Troutman of Public Herald, investigates the effects of fracking in the Marcellus Shale Region of Pennsylvania from the ground up, focusing its lens on the true accounts of neighbors who have lost their water well to contamination from drilling, and farmers, like the ones in Promised Land, who have lost their land to pollution from a nearby well pad.  In their first live interview about the film, journalists Joshua and Melissa discussed Triple Divide and the impact of fracking with Stefanie Spear, Founder and Editor of EcoWatch, a news service designed to promote and build a community of grassroots environmental activism.  You can watch the full interview above or at EcoWatch.

Information on Triple Divide and fracking in Pennsylvania can be found at tripledividefilm.org or publicherald.org.

EcoWatch

On Jan. 3, EcoWatch TV with Stefanie Spear featured the new fracking documentary Triple Divide and interviewed filmmakers Joshua Pribanic and Melissa Troutman. Triple Divide is about the truth behind oil and gas development in shale plays across Pennsylvania and is scheduled for release the end of January.

Watch the inaugural EcoWatch TV interview and hear firsthand the account of these two extraordinary filmmakers as they unfold the truth about fracking’s undeniable impacts on local communities and our most valuable natural resources:

Through personal stories, experts and public documents, Triple Divide tells a cautionary tale about the consequences of fracking, including contamination of water, air and land; intimidation and harassment of citizens; loss of property, investments and standard of living; weak and under enforced state regulations; decay of public trust; illness; fragmentation of Pennsylvania’s last stands of core forest; and lack of protection over basic human rights.

The film begins at one of only four triple continental divides on the North American continent in Potter County, Pennsylvania, where everything is downstream. From this peak, rain is sent to three sides of the continent—the Gulf of St. Lawrence in Canada, Chesapeake Bay on the eastern seaboard and the Gulf of Mexico. This vast water basin is drained by three major rivers—the Allegheny, Genesee and Susquehanna. These waterways rank among the most coveted trout streams in the U.S., helping to create a regenerative tourism economy upon which locals have depended for generations. At this “watershed moment” in Pennsylvania’s history, which way will the future flow?