Corbett official compares "Gasland" to Nazi propaganda
A public comment by a Corbett administration official comparing a documentary on shale drilling to Nazi propaganda has touched off criticism by a member of the state House.
Corbett official compares "Gasland" to Nazi propaganda
UPDATE: Gov. Corbett said today that a DCNR official's comparison of "Gasland" to Nazi propaganda was an "inappropriate analogy." Speaking to reporters at an event in York, Corbett said Ted Borawski's superiors were taking "disciplinary action" against him. Corbett spokesman Kevin Harley did not say what kind of action was being taken, but added that they did so prior to Shapiro's email.
A public comment by a Corbett administration official comparing a documentary on shale drilling to Nazi propaganda has touched off criticism by a member of the state House.
Ted Borawski, chief oil and gas geologist with the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, told a group of insurance underwriters in Lancaster County last week that "Joseph Goebbels would be proud" of the Oscar-nominated film "Gasland," which explores the environmental impacts of natural gas drilling.
Borawski went on to say the filmmaker Josh Fox would have received the "Nazi Award" for his "beautiful piece of propaganda," according to the Lancaster Intelligencer Journal.
The remarks stunned Rep. Josh Shapiro (D., Montgomery), who fired off an email yesterday to Gov. Corbett's policy chief Annmarie Kaiser seeking an apology.
"While I recognize there may be differing opinions of that documentary, there is absolutely no place in society--let alone in the Corbett Administration--for such insensitive and ignorant rhetoric," Shapiro wrote. "I don't know Mr. Borawski or his relationship to the new Governor, but as a member of the state House, I ask that the Governor immediately condemn Mr. Borawski's comment and take appropriate action against him. There is plently of room in the public discourse for people to disagree, but there is no room for a senior government official to compare someone to a Nazi just because they have different views."
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Invoking the "N" word is almost never a good idea, it just holds too powerful a meaning for a lot of people. I do feel Mr. Borawski's pain though, as any trained oil and gas professional can easily see through the monstorous holes in Mr. Fox's "research". Slanted and biased pieces of work like "Gasland" and "An inconvenient Truth" are nominated for Oscars as documentaries misleads the public into believing them to be truthful. They are pieces of propaganda, created to sway people to their side of an argument.
Mr. Borawski should be severly censured for his remarks and it would behoove him to publicly apologize to Jews and others offended by his remarks, but the State needs all the oil and gas regulators they can get. Unless Mr. Borawski has other problems in his service record, don't just automatically throw out the baby with the bath water.— akh- borawski should be fired for simply being so stupid. even an idiot can understand the commonsensical point that when you inject hundreds of chemicals into the ground that you are going to eventually encounter massive environmental problems. it's real fracking easy to understand. the fact that somebody working for the state could be so closeminded as to completely dismiss it is ridiculous - but then to throw out the old nazi propaganda statement is beyond stupid. massive failure all around. how does this moron even have a job with the state....a prominent one at that? lol.— slanted and enchanted
- Do you understand that when you inject those chemicals THOUSANDS of feet beneath the water table, this wonderful force called GRAVITY prevents those chemicals from trickling up? What a dope. — hotelguy
Comment removed.- Global warming has no credibility? Only a paid intern would say something so incredibly stupid - at least for barbouze's sake - that's what I hope she/he is. This debate has been long over.— SoundGround
- barbouze - seriously? your commonsense tells you that when you take hundreds of toxic chemicals and insert them into the ground, that no damage is going to be done to the environment? if so, you have absolutely zero intellectual integrity. you'd be better off saying that you simply think making money is more important than having decent drinking water and livable land.— slanted and enchanted
- barbouze,
If the chemicals they inject are so kind to the environment, why has it taken them so long to release the makeup of the fraking mix they use?— rstoloff - To claim that natural gas drilling doesn't cause problems with groundwater contamination is over looking the facts. Dimock , PA had about 12 wells contaminated after natural gas drilling was done in the area and eventual paid $ 4.1 million to effected home owners but in true corporate double talk claim no responsiblity. Why pay $ 4.1 million ?
Ted Borawski, chief oil and gas geologist with the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources should be fired for his comments.
The fact is that the natural gas drillers have bought and paid for the elected officials of PA with large political donations and not being taxed , gas extraction tax, like very other state. Corporate giveaway that hurts PA residents.
Living in Bradford County where gas drilling is huge water concerns are real and the destructions of roads are by products of the gas drillers.— Jeff C. - whether or not global warming is real has nothing to do with the fact that drinking contaminated water is dangerous. Let's make sure this fracking is safe!!!— Hunter S. T
- Please contact the ignorant person who made this statement at: http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/forestry/directory/centraloffice/index.htm - specifically Teddy Borawski , Section Chief, at (717) 772-0269. Then contact Governor Tom Corbett at
Governor's Office
225 Main Capitol Building
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17120
Phone: (717) 787-2500
Fax: (717) 772-8284
to advise that this man has been reported to the ADL for remarks made in the above article.
Thank you.
peace...karen— karjerpal - So its ok when Democrats called the Wisconsin Gov a Nazi? How about when Rep Steve Cohen called anyone who opposes Obamacare a Nazi? Hypocrisy rears its ugly head once again with the Dems. The film was propaganda-ish but there was truth in there. Is fracking dangerous? Yep. Is it safe with the proper safety rules and regs? Yep.— psyrus
- I meant relatvely safe. I don't think anything like that is 100% safe. — psyrus
- Oxygen in the atmosphere kills more people each year than groundwater being contaminated by natural gas drilling . . . give it a rest people, everything kills you in some shape or another . . . just enjoy life . . . and I'm pretty sure you all enjoy heating your home in the winter.— cd456
- The entire Corbett adminsitration was bought and paid for by big gas company money. Why is anyone surprised they would attempt to protect their keepers?— msmame
- Ted needs a history lesson— robtpenn
