Melissa Troutman

Melissa Troutman is a journalist, writer, editor and vocal artist. She began investigating shale gas extraction in 2010 as a newspaper reporter in her hometown of Coudersport, Pennsylvania before co-founding the investigative news nonprofit Public Herald, where she served as Executive Director from 2011-2018. Melissa co-wrote, -directed and -edited the documentary Triple Divide (2013), which she also narrated with award-winning actor Mark Ruffalo. Follow her on twitter @melissat22.

See a complete list of Troutman’s 70+ appearances in the press » 

Melissa’s works at Public Herald have had widespread coverage in environmental journalism, editorials and major news media, including NPR Marketplace, Rolling Stone, The Washington Post, The New York Times and Forbes. Her work has also been referenced in the books “Amity and Prosperity: One Family and the Fracturing of America” by Eliza Griswald, “Legal Rights for Rivers: Competition, Collaboration and Water Governance” by Erin O’Donnell and “Sustainability and the Rights of Nature: An Introduction” by Cameron La Follette and Chris Maser.

Melissa has produced three award-winning documentary films on fracking, Triple Divide (c. 2013) and Triple Divide [Redacted] (c. 2017), and INVISIBLE HAND (c. 2019). All three films have collaborated with actor Mark Ruffalo.

Melissa’s films have screened in more than 30 countries, are licensed to more than 50 colleges, and continue to have an important role in the narrative surrounding fracking and democracy.

Melissa appeared with Public Herald in 2014 on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart’s first episode on fracking called “The Benefits of Fracking” alongside sources impacted by unconventional natural gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing in the Marcellus Shale region of Pennsylvania.

In 2017, Melissa released two groundbreaking complaint reports that reshaped the history of water contamination cases associated with fracking and the conduct of regulatory agencies. The report uncovered 9,442 complaint investigations by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PA DEP) that were previously unreleased, with over 4,000 drinking water cases being directly related to oil and natural gas fracking development, and 178 cases of criminal misconduct. The data in the report suggests that the industry’s impact on drinking water supplies was in fact widespread and systemic, contrary to the national study released by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) “Hydraulic Fracturing for Oil and Gas: Impacts from the Hydraulic Fracturing Water Cycle on Drinking Water Resources” that failed to include the complaint data.

The Public Herald complaint reports were a key subject in Public Herald’s second documentary Triple Divide [Redacted], released in 2017 as a 52-minute feature covering the drinking water complaint investigations and Public Herald’s call for a criminal investigation of the PA DEP.

In the months after the complaint reports and the release of Triple Divide [Redacted], hundreds of residents across the state flooded Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office with phone calls for months demanding an investigation of PA DEP — citing Public Herald’s reporting. The effort forced Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro to launch a probe into DEP misconduct regarding its handling of oil and gas complaints. As of 2019, sources reveal that DEP officials have been forced to testify before grand juries convened by Attorney General Shapiro.

In 2018, Melissa’s reporting on an untested fracking wastewater treatment facility proposal inspired the Seneca Nation of Indians to intervene and eventually shut down the project.

As Executive Director of Public Herald, Melissa earned support from: James L. Knight Foundation, 11th Hour Project, Heinz Endowments, Investigative News Network (now Institute for Nonprofit News), Mountain Watershed Association, Foundation for Pennsylvania Watersheds, and Tesla Motors.

Film Festivals & Awards

Triple Divide, Triple Divide [Redacted] Awards and Festivals

• People’s Choice Award, Real to Reel Film Festival
• Award of Merit, Accolade Global Film Competition
• Humanitarian Award, Accolade Global Film Competition
• Runner Up, Audience Award, ReadingFilmFest
• New York Film & TV Festival
• Maryland International Film Festival
• Erie International Film Festival
• Colorado Environmental Film Festival
• Harrisburg-Hershey Film Festival

INVISIBLE HAND Awards & Festivals:

Filmography

As Director, Writer, Editor and Producer

• Triple Divide (2013)
• Triple Divide [Redacted] (2017)
• INVISIBLE HAND (2020)

External Links

• FilmFreeway
• IMDB
• Bullfrog Films