The people were sick and tired of being sick and tired. They had come to the conclusion that they wanted a government that protected their health and wellbeing. They organized from coast to coast to tell their representatives that they were taking the blindfolds off and were no longer going to stand for their elected representatives serving the interests of the gas and oil industry at their expense.

It was a movie that woke the people in Gasland. The movie told the story of a group of faceless executives who had come into the lives of the good people of Gasland and offered them and their neighbors money to allow oil and gas companies to inject thousands of gallons of water and toxic chemicals into the ground to extract natural gas, a process called hydraulic fracturing. They were given money for the rights to use this method of extraction on their property. They did not know that the chemicals would contaminate their drinking water, that natural gas would come out of their taps so that they could light the water on fire. They did not expect muddy water to flow from their taps as a result. They did not expect to have to buy water from Wal Mart. They did not expect that they would be afraid that their homes would explode underneath them.

Their animals lost their hair, lost weight and house pets that never went outside experienced vomiting spells. Produced water, that is water containing the chemicals from the process, was dumped on fields and in streams, further contaminating the environment. They themselves became ill. They suffered headaches, ringing in their ears, disorientation, dizziness, brain damage, swelling of their limbs and excruciating pain.

The process not only contaminated their water, but it also polluted the air. From time to time the process required the release of natural gas into the air. Their sense of smell and taste weakened. They became afraid to allow their children to play outdoors. The pollution polluted the air they and their livestock breathed. It polluted grass land that was food for their cattle that may be eaten by those of us who enjoy beef now and again. Thousand -year-old rock formations were destroyed with heavy machinery. The drilling sites disturbed the migratory patterns of several endangered species whose numbers have declined since the natural gas extraction has begun. The way of life of farmers and ranchers was threatened. With bad water, with the ugliness of the drill sites dotting the land, they became afraid that their property was unsellable. Now they live on land on which they cannot earn a living. They live on land they cannot sell.

One town official worries that there is so much natural gas in the air, that one day a person will light up a barbecue grill to cook a couple of burgers and blow-up the town. In the gulf region of Gasland, oil and gas waste has been accumulating for 60 years. There are hundreds of thousands of sites where there is permanent contamination.

And their government that ought to protect them has not. A 2005 energy bill exempted the oil and gas industry from portions of various environmental protection acts, including laws to protect drinking water and air. The companies are not required to tell the public what chemicals they use in the process so scientists cannot tell which chemicals may be harming the population. Various government officials say they will help people replace water that has been contaminated, but also speak of the necessary balance between the need to extract natural gas and the harm done to people, animals and the environment.

During the August recess of 2010, while their elected officials were at home, asking for their vote, the people of Gasland made the issue of clean water, clean air and environmental protection the main issue. They attended town hall meetings with signs. They raised their voices in a unified chorus because if some foreign force had come into Gasland and caused the kind of environmental damage and health problems that the people now suffer, the nation would declare a new war. Some people in Gasland used the language of war to describe what is happening in their lives. One man spoke of a way of life that is under attack. He felt “besieged.”

The media came running with cameras and the talk of what people were suffering in Gasland became the topic of cable television talk from morning to night. President Obama was forced to comment. The blogosphere went crazy with people debating the issue and hearing the stories of people who were affected. State and local politicians tripped over each other declaring their support for the end of hydraulic fracturing and for the protection of the air and drinking water.

There is legislation pending in Congress to address this problem. It is called the FRAC Act – Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Act. The proposed law in both the House of Representatives and in the Senate would Amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to give the Environmental Protection Agency authority over hydraulic fracturing, repeal the exemption for fracturing in the Safe Drinking Water Act and require disclosure of the chemicals used in the process.

The oil and gas industry is opposed to the FRAC Act saying that new regulations are unnecessary, and too costly. The industry says it would add $100,000 to the cost of each new well, and thus making it too costly for small businesses to produce natural gas.

The people were not persuaded. What price can one put on one’s health and well being? What price does the nation put on a way of life or on clean air and clean water? If the people of Gasland must trade these things for the sake of this particular energy source, they decided that the price was too dear.

They finally understood that health is more precious than wealth, that government enforcing regulations to protect them and the land they love is not some big bad bogey man that will take their money and chain their children to an insurmountable debt. They finally understood all the anti-government rhetoric for what it is: a distraction to allow people who profit from little to no government oversight to continue to make profits at the expense of the general population. They finally understood that democracy requires their participation and their relentless insistence that elected officials remember who they are elected to serve – ordinary, hardworking people.

And then I woke up from my dream. I remembered that I had seen the documentary “Gasland” nearly a month ago on HBO and that I have heard nothing about it or the issue of hydraulic fracturing since then. All the talk has been about the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, and about BP’s internal personnel changes. The media has been fixated on the squabble between the NAACP and the Tea Party people over whether or not the Tea Party is racist. Shirley Sherrod was misrepresented, fired, rehired and received apologies galore, all happening at the speed of a 24/7 21^st century news cycle. There is relentless chatter about President Obama’s poll numbers and what they mean for the 2010 midterm elections. I have heard nary a word about people who can set their drinking water on fire.

However, I live in hope. Dreams do come true, and perhaps my dream of a nation rising up to demand clean water, clean air and the end of hydraulic fracturing will come true.