Life's a Gas in <i>Haynesville</i>

The Tulane Energy Institute will host a screening and panel discussion on Monday (Oct. 26) of Haynesville, a new documentary that examines the discovery of the nation's largest natural gas field in rural northwest Louisiana and its impact on individual landowners and the world.

The politics, law, personal lives and creative response to the historic Haynesville, La., natural gas discovery will be the subject of a panel discussion after the film preview, sponsored by the Tulane Energy Institute.

The preview screening is at 7 p.m. at the Contemporary Arts Center, 900 Camp St., New Orleans.

The panel discussion, moderated by Eric Smith, associate director of the Tulane Energy Institute, will feature Gregory Kallenberg, director and producer of Haynesville; Christopher Fettweis, Tulane assistant professor of political science; Mary Blue, professor of practice in the Tulane film studies program; and Marjorie McKeithen, an attorney with Jones Walker and former secretary of the Louisiana Minerals Management Board.

Formed more than 170 million years ago in northwest Louisiana and east Texas, the Haynesville Shale formation was developed as an energy source last year, creating millionaires in the long-economically depressed area near Shreveport, La.

Haynesville follows the lives of three small-town landowners who are caught up in the middle of a boom in which politics, money, religion, public safety, corporate power, activism, greed and the future of clean energy intersect.

"I set out to make a documentary about a historic natural gas find and its effect on three lives," Kallenberg says, "But as I looked deeper, I learned that finds like this could be instrumental in getting the U.S. off of coal and moving us towards a cleaner and greener energy future."

Smith says, "Natural gas is a flexible resource to cleanly cover the shortfalls until technology advances enough to provide us with continuous reliable, renewable energy sources."

The screening and discussion are free and open to the public. To reserve a seat, e-mail Fran Wild or call 504-865-5427. Doors and a cash bar will open at 6:30 p.m.