Be honest. Instead of party-hopping Saturday night, wouldn’t you rather stay in? Yes? Okay then, grab some popcorn and your Slanket, tune in to Planet Green at 8 EDT, and settle in for the television premiere of Split Estate.

This important new film chronicles the consequences of the gas drilling boom in the Rocky Mountain West. It also presents a cautionary tale for those in the East, who are facing the fight of their lives as industry clamors for access to gas reserves buried in the Marcellus Shale deposit.

 

The term ‘split estate’ refers to when someone who owns the surface of their land does not own the resources beneath. Or, as the filmmakers describe it:

Imagine discovering that you don’t own the mineral rights under your land, and that an energy company plans to drill for natural gas two hundred feet from your front door. Imagine having little recourse, other than accepting an unregulated industry in your backyard… Exempt from federal protections like the Clean Water Act, the oil and gas industry has left this idyllic landscape and its rural communities pockmarked with abandoned homes and polluted waters. One Garfield County resident demonstrates the degree of benzene contamination in a mountain stream by setting it alight with a match. Many others, gravely ill, fight for their health and for the health of their children.

If you miss the premiere, or—like me—don’t get Planet Green, click here to find out how you can organize a viewing party.

So if you’ve got plans Saturday night, cancel ’em! (Hesitant to ditch your bowling buddies on my word alone? That’s fair. Check out this preview first and see what you think.)

If you tune in, we’d love to hear what you think of the film.