SNC Lavalin Chairman Ex-Encana Gwyn Morgan on Promised Land: Time to fight back against Hollywood’s misinformation

Check the source by Brian Mason, January 22, 2013, Globe and Mail
Gwyn Morgan (Time To Fight Back Against Hollywood’s Misinformation – Report on Business, Jan. 21) appears to have trouble differentiating between a thriller and a documentary. If it is any consolation to Mr. Morgan, I am about as likely to think I’m getting the facts about fracking from a Hollywood movie as I am to believe I will get the truth about climate change from an oil and gas company CEO.

Due diligence lacking by Brandon Christopher, January 31, 2013, Winnipeg Free Press
I must express my deep concern about the lack of editorial standards demonstrated by your paper in publishing Gwyn Morgan’s column Hollywood version of fracking (Jan. 26). Setting aside Morgan’s absurd point that Hollywood, run by such mom-and-pop operations as Viacom, Time Warner and Sony, is anti-big business, I would like to know who was responsible for fact-checking a column that repeatedly refers to Michael Moore’s documentary The Corporation. Moore will no doubt be surprised to learn that it was he, and not Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott, who directed the film. Morgan is a former director of Encana, a natural gas company engaged in fracking, the very process that is the target of the movie Morgan is attacking in the column. You have done your readers a disservice in printing this column. [Emphasis added]

Fracking denial gives business a bad name, not Hollywood Letters in Vancouver Sun, January 30, 2013 Re: Hollywood cranks out another anti-business movie, Opinion, Jan. 26

by Kevin Hanna, Associate professor, department of geography and environmental studies, Wilfrid Laurier University
To say fracking is harmless is a bit fanciful. In the search for natural gas, fracking may have been practised for 60 years, but it is only in the last decade that it has really ramped up and we are only beginning to understand what the long-term impacts will be on our water supply. A minute or two on the Internet reveals studies from government, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and other researchers, that link fracking to groundwater contamination. To blithely say that fracturing rock and injecting chemicals into the ground is harmless, and to deny the impacts on our freshwater supply, is what really gives business a bad name; not Hollywood. [Emphasis added]

by Max Wilkie
Hats off to Gwyn Morgan, SNC-Lavalin chairman, for setting us straight about the Hollywood conspiracy to paint corporations as heartless profiteers. However, before you “take off the gloves and fight back,” be sure to read the business section in the Jan. 26 edition of The Vancouver Sun. Two stories really stand out: Gadhafi’s son paid $160 million for SNC-Lavalin deals: RCMP; and, Forced labour used at Vancouver firm’s mine. Sorry, Gwyn, you were saying something about “greedy villains” being “demonized”? Who’s telling us the fracking truth? Apparently, the jury is still out. [Emphasis added]

Hollywood cranks out another anti-business movie, Opinion: Unable to fake facts on fracking, Promised Land attacks ‘greedy’ corporations bent on exploiting ranchers by Gwyn Morgan, Troy Media,  January 25, 2013
Gwyn Morgan says the film ‘Damonizes’ the natural gas industry’s use of hydraulic fracturing or fracking. Hollywood hates big business. Movies portraying business leaders as greedy villains have been common for decades, but the film that inspired today’s movie makers has its roots right here in British Columbia.

The 2004 documentary The Corporation, written by University of British Columbia law professor Joe Bakan, features a procession of leftist luminaries including Naomi Klein and Michael Moore uttering such pronouncements as “a corporation has no moral conscience” and “the problem comes from the profit motive.” … But anti-business filmmakers haven’t been focusing only on adults. Watching animated movies with my grandchildren has revealed that Hollywood believes in the adage “get ‘em while they’re young.” One that’s long been popular is Fern Gully, wherein the magical fairy folk help stop a logging company from destroying their forest home. While mining and forestry are frequently cast in the villain role, the oil industry has been the most popular target. But you can only sell so many oily movies. Who would have predicted that natural gas, an energy source that can’t be spilled and burns cleaner than all other hydrocarbons, would hand Hollywood a new villain to demonize, or should I say Damonize? … Perhaps the film’s researchers looked at U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data showing that, far from being a scary new technology, hydraulic fracking has been used for some 60 years in 1.2 million wells without a single confirmed case of groundwater contamination.

Fracturing has also been used in Canada for a very long time. As a young engineer in 1975, I directed the fracking of the very first well drilled by the company that eventually grew to become Encana Corporation. Since then, Encana has safely fractured tens of thousands of wells on its way to becoming North America’s largest natural gas producer. Unable to find factual support for their anti-fracking mission, the screen writers of Promised Land resorted to attacking Hollywood’s original villain, the corporation. The natural gas company employing Damon’s character uses bribes, scheming and misrepresentation to obtain drilling leases from unsuspecting local ranchers.

Unfortunately, despite nothing but shallow innuendo, many moviegoers will still be convinced that fracking is dangerous and damaging. Others will simply add natural gas companies to their long list of corporate villains. Either way, in the war between Hollywood and business, Hollywood wins this round. Therein lies a perplexing challenge. How can business fight back against the misuse of star power to brainwash millions of eager moviegoers into believing that corporations are predatory and uncaring? It’s a monumental problem, but sitting in our boardrooms despairing over the latest anti-business film will only ensure that Hollywood wins….  It’s time for corporate leaders to take off the gloves and fight back.

Gwyn Morgan is a Canadian business leader, chairman of SNC-Lavalin and a director on the board of Encana Corp. [Emphasis added]

Time to fight back against Hollywood’s misinformation by Gwyn Morgan, January 21, 2013, Special to the Globe and Mail
‘Promised Land’ takes aim at hydraulic fracturing, commonly called fracking, which is unlocking the enormous potential of natural gas shales in British Columbia and many American states. Curiously, in what is clearly intended to be an anti-fracking film, Mr. Damon’s character has little of substance to say about the alleged environmental risks. Hollywood hates big business. Movies portraying corporate leaders as greedy villains have been common for decades, but the film that inspired today’s movie makers had its roots in British Columbia. That was the 2003 documentary The Corporation, written by a University of British Columbia law professor, Joel Bakan. It featured a procession of leftist luminaries, including Naomi Klein and Noam Chomsky, uttering views such as that corporations turn citizens into “mindless consumers of goods that they do not want” and that “the problem comes from the profit motivation.” Hollywood’s attack has escalated to the point where many films feature an anti-corporate “moral” message, the most popular of which portray industries as uncaring pillagers of the environment. The plot of James Cameron’s 2009 blockbuster Avatar featured a greedy mining boss intent on destroying an ancient forest inhabited by native humanoids on the distant planet of Pandora to mine a precious mineral called unobtanium. Animated films for children also follow the lead; consider 1992’s FernGully: The Last Rain Forest, in which fairy folk help stop a logging company from destroying their forest home.

While mining and forestry are frequently cast in the villain role, the oil industry is also a popular target. But you can only sell so many oily movies. Who would have predicted that natural gas, an energy source that can’t be spilled and burns cleaner than all other hydrocarbons, would hand Hollywood a new villain to demonize (or should I say Damonize)? The new movie Promised Land, co-written by and starring Matt Damon, takes aim at hydraulic fracturing, commonly called fracking, which is unlocking the enormous potential of natural gas shales in British Columbia and many American states. Curiously, in what is clearly intended to be an anti-fracking film, Mr. Damon’s character has little of substance to say about the alleged environmental risks. Perhaps the film’s researchers looked at U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data showing that, far from being a scary new technology, hydraulic fracking has been used for some 60 years in 1.2 million wells without a single confirmed case of groundwater contamination. Fracturing has also been used in Canada for a long time. As a young engineer in 1975, I directed the fracking of the first well drilled by the company that grew to become Encana Corp. Since then, Encana has safely fractured tens of thousands of wells on its way to becoming North America’s largest natural gas producer.

Unable to find factual support for their anti-fracking mission, the screen writers of Promised Land resorted to attacking Mr. Bakan’s original villain, the corporation. The natural gas company employing Mr. Damon’s character uses bribes, scheming and misrepresentation to obtain drilling leases from unsuspecting ranchers. Despite offering nothing but shallow innuendo, Promised Land will likely persuade many movie-goers that fracking is dangerous and damaging. Others will simply add natural gas companies to their long list of corporate villains. In the war between Hollywood and business, Hollywood wins this round either way. Therein lies the challenge. How can business fight back to offset the Hollywood image of corporations as predatory and uncaring? It’s a big problem for business leaders, but simply sitting in their boardrooms despairing over the latest misinformed movie plot only ensures that Hollywood wins.

[Refer also to: FrackingCanada: Alberta Ranchers The Campbells

EPA Report: Fracking Contaminated Drinking Water

Cracks in the façade

Thirty Year Old Study States Contaminated Well Water Is Irreversible

DRILLING DOWN, One Tainted Water Well, and Concern There May Be More

Hydraulic fracturing with gelled propane by Gasfrac/Crew Energy Inc./Caltex Energy Inc. contaminated groundwater near Grande Prairie: ERCB Investigative Report and groundwater monitoring by Alberta Environment

A toxic practice, a poisonous relationship: what’s the connection between water for fracking and SNC-Lavalin’s Chair Gwyn Morgan, past CEO of Encana?

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