Haynesville: A Nation's Hunt for an Energy Future (2009)

"Haynesville: A Nation's Hunt for an Energy Future" takes place in the Louisiana backwoods, and follows the momentous discovery of the largest natural gas field in the United States (and maybe the world). The film examines the historic find (a formation called the "Haynesville Shale") from the personal level as well as from the larger perspective of the current energy picture and pending energy future. As the Haynesville Shale boom erupts, the film focuses on three lives caught in the middle of the find: A single mom takes up the defense of her community's environmental protections, an African American preacher attempts to use the riches to build a school for his congregants and a salt-of-the-earth, self-described "country boy" finds himself conflicted as he weighs losing his pristine land to an oil company's offer to make him a millionaire. From a broader perspective, "Haynesville" explores the current energy situation and what something the scale of the Haynesville (170 trillion cubic feet or the equivalent of 28 billion barrels of oil) could mean for the energy picture in the United States. The new, updated version of the film looks deeper into the lives of Mike, Kassi and Reegis. The "Haynesville" update also sheds new light on the natural gas discussion and its place in the clean energy future.