Speaking to an audience of about 30 MPs and journalists after a screening of his documentary FrackNation in London’s House of Commons, Phelim McAleer said that environmentalists were slow to abandon scare tactics about the drilling technique and journalists were slow to challenge them.

“There’s lots of allegations, there’s lots of anecdotes, but there’s no science behind it. Ask environmentalists for an independent scientific report that shows water was contaminated by fracking – there are none,” McAleeer said.

Being shown for the first time in London, Brussels and Warsaw this week, FrackNation is a crowd-funded documentary tackling claims made against fracking in Josh Fox’s earlier documentary film, Gasland.

It showcases farmers in Pennsylvania whose livelihoods were negatively impacted by the halt to shale gas drilling in Dimock over allegations of water contamination that subsequent Environmental Protection Agency reports failed to substantiate.

McAleer’s film also sought to highlight views he saw as being ignored of widespread support for shale gas in rural areas of the US even in districts where long-running protests and legal cases were ongoing.

Opponents of hydraulic fracturing have largely refused to entertain the findings of FrackNation, and Fox declined to be interviewed for the documentary.

The film has received both positive and negative reviews from critics in the US.

McAleer argued that early coverage of shale gas in the US had overemphasised the potential risks of hydraulic fracturing and accused journalists of being unwilling to challenge environmentalists’ side of the story.

“Journalists are supposed to be sceptical. Journalists only have a lack of curiosity when they’re afraid it will disrupt what they believe and get in the way of a great story,” he said.

Asked about the likely trajectory of opinions on hydraulic fracturing in the UK, McAleer said that in the US high levels of trepidation about the technique had been gradually replaced by acceptance as public awareness of shale gas increased and the myths about fracking were disproved.

However, he said that ardent campaigners were unlikely to change their minds about fracking any time soon.

“You’re not gonna convince any environmentalists. It’s not about facts. To them it’s an ideology,” he said.

McAleer also argued that anti-fracking campaigners were helping to maintain imports from regimes in the Middle East and former Soviet Union that did not support human rights.

“Environmentalists don’t see shale as ethical energy. But getting energy from the Middle East and Russia means supporting regimes that do things that you would never support otherwise,” he said.