Documentary on impacts of Colorado gas drilling wins Emmy

“Split Estate,” a documentary about the environmental and public health impacts of natural gas drilling on Colorado’s Western Slope, took home an Emmy Award Monday night from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

Produced and directed by Debra Anderson for Planet Green, a Discovery Channel sister network, “Split Estate” looks at the health problems that occur when property owners don’t control the mineral rights under their land and gas companies set up shop in populated areas. Much of the 2009 film was shot in Garfield County, where the county commissioners last fall got a special screening.

The film won an Emmy for Outstanding Individual Achievement in a Craft: Research. Even its detractors said the film was very well produced.

Donna Gray, community affairs representative for Williams, the largest operator in gas-rich Garfield County, told the Colorado Independent last October: “I’m not ready to say anything, other than it was a very well-done film … very well-done.”

Apparently the Emmy voters agreed.

is an award-winning reporter who has covered energy, environmental and political issues for years. His work has appeared in the New York Times, Chicago Tribune and Denver Post. He's founder of Real Vail and Real Aspen.

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