Pa. geologist apologizes for 'Nazi' remark against filmmaker
Well, that was quick. Teddy Borawski, the chief oil and gas geologist for the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, apologized yesterday for comparing a documentary-maker to a Nazi propagandist.
Well, that was quick.
Teddy Borawski, the chief oil and gas geologist for the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, apologized yesterday for comparing a documentary-maker to a Nazi propagandist.
The foot-in-mouth saga began Thursday, when Borawski spoke with the Pennsylvania Dutch chapter of the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters Association.
"Gasland," a film that examined potentially serious water-contamination issues related to hydraulic fracturing in the Marcellus Shale, became a topic.
Borawski went off on the documentary and director Josh Fox, saying in part: "Joseph Goebbels would have been proud. He would have given [Fox] the Nazi award. That, in my opinion, was a beautiful piece of propaganda."
On Monday, Fox, whose father and grandparents are Holocaust survivors, called on Gov. Corbett to fire Borawski.
Yesterday, Borawski issued "my sincerest and most heartfelt apology"to Fox. "I used very poor judgment trying to compare the work of a filmmaker to the propaganda spewed by Joseph Goebbels and the Nazi regime in World War II," he said, in part.
Corbett described Borawski's remarks as an "inappropriate analogy" and vowed that disciplinary action would be taken.
State Rep. Josh Shapiro, D-Abington, who had urged Corbett to condemn the comments, said he was pleased at the apology. "People in Pennsylvania want to see this type of heated rhetoric come to an end," he said.
