In 2010, Josh Fox released a documentary called GasLand, about the effects of a method of natural gas drilling technique called fracking, which involves forcing millions of gallons of chemically-treated water underground to shatter rock and release trapped natural gas. Critics say it can contaminate drinking water, while proponents say it’s totally boss and the clean electricity it generates helps them shred on the keytar. Gasland profiled people who lived in places where the drilling had been done, who suffered adverse effects to their health and could do wonderfully cinematic things like light their tapwater on fire.
Yesterday, Fox was arrested while trying to film a congressional hearing by the House Science Committee on fracking, for a sequel to his documentary for HBO, Gasland: Bigger and Gassier. (Note: not actual title)
Fox was led out in handcuffs by the Capitol police shortly after 10 a.m., before the hearing could be gaveled into order. The “Gasland” director was attempting to film the hearing looking into EPA’s investigation of potential water contamination from natural gas drilling in Pavillion, Wyo.
“I’m within my First Amendment rights, and I’m being taken out,” Fox shouted as he was led away.
Fox has been charged with unlawful entry, according to Capitol police spokeswoman Sgt. Kimberly Schneider.
An ABC news crew was also turned away from the hearing. The committee chairman has the discretion on whether to allow uncredentialed members of the media to film hearings, according to a democratic staffer.
The committee recessed after Rep. Brad Miller (D-N.C.) called a motion to suspend the committee rules and allow for Fox and the ABC crew to film the hearing.
“… it’s clear we have space in this room to film this hearing,” Miller said. “If you claim that rule does not allow them to film, or allows you the discretion to turn them away, I move the rules be suspended so the fella who wanted to film for HBO be allowed to film this hearing and that ABC be allowed to film this hearing and all God’s children be allowed to film this hearing until the room is too full for us to conduct our business.”
Before Miller’s motion, subcommittee chairman Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) noted that the hearing is being webcast and that anyone filming the hearing would need the appropriate press credentials.
The hearing resumed nearly 30 minutes later, after Republicans voted to table both Miller’s motion to allow the filming and a second motion to recess the hearing. [Politico]
These hearings would be a lot more exciting if in order to table someone’s motion, you had to bodyslam him through a table like in wrestling. Then only the chairman could intervene, with a folding chair.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released 622 documents related to its study of water contamination tied to hydraulic fracturing in Pavillion, Wyoming, as Republican lawmakers criticized the findings.
The EPA documents include sampling data and raw findings from laboratories. The agency also said that results from the study, which found elevated levels of benzene and said the chemicals found were consistent with those used in fracking, shouldn’t be used to judge the safety of fracking in Pennsylvania or other states on the Marcellus Shale formation, where the geography is different.
“Our analysis is limited to the particular geologic conditions in the Pavillion gas field,” Jim Martin, the EPA administrator for the region that covers Wyoming, testified today at a subcommittee hearing of the House Science Committee.
The EPA’s draft report on groundwater contamination in Pavillion, about 230 miles (370 kilometers) northeast of Salt Lake City, was the first to link the drilling technique to spoiling water. The EPA has moved to establish a peer-review panel to examine its findings.
The EPA is waiting for information from Encana Corp. (ECA), which has 123 wells in that area, on the water samples the company took at the same time as the EPA, Martin testified. Encana has criticized the EPA’s results, and said the agency didn’t take into account naturally occurring chemicals.
Representative Andy Harris of Maryland, the Republican chairman of the Energy and Environment subcommittee of the House Science Committee, criticized Martin and the EPA, saying that the study of groundwater contamination was an example of “politics trumping policy and advocacy trumping science.” [Bloomberg]
I’m sure I’ll get a million wingnut trolls in the comments telling me all the reasons Fox is an A-hole hippie, but politics aside, you tend to look bad when you start throwing people out of public hearings. Saying “credentialed members of the press only” is sort of counter to the idea of a free press, isn’t it? They were from ABC and HBO, not FilmDrunk and ClitParty.com. Andy Harris is undoubtedly getting money from the gas companies, and even when the EPA is already essentially conceding his point (“The agency also said that results from the study… shouldn’t be used to judge the safety of fracking in Pennsylvania or other states…”), he’s still screaming that their study is a farce and having people thrown out of public hearings. As if anyone’s going to read this and go, “That Andy Harris, what a guy! He really stands up for proper paperwork, even when it’s unpopular!”
I guess what I’m saying is that I expect people to be totally corrupt and biased, but I’m frequently surprised at how moronically transparent they are about it. If you’re going to be a corrupt asshole, at least hide it better. It’s sad when you’re too dumb to even be self-serving. We have by far the dumbest, most sociopathic people in our society making all our policy decisions. Great system.
< Dick joke. >
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Yeah they don’t really have to hide how corrupt or one sided they are now in Washington because what are we going to do about it stand in a street for a month? Its a laugh riot… wait maybe a riot…
Didn’t they state that the hearing was being webcast? What’s the big deal?
The big deal is a man was arrested for doing absolutely nothing wrong.
Webcasts are shitty quality when you’re trying to make a documentary. Making people watch an obscure webcast instead of allowing someone to film a documentary for a high-profile television station is a great way to ensure less people see it.
You’re right. I hate it when the government get’s in the way of a guy trying to make a buck.
who’s directing and editing the webcast dipshit?
I wasn’t going to comment because Vince summed it all up well in the article, but I guess some people are just dumb enough to miss the point even without being paid to do so.
If the guy was trying to make money, he’d be producing one of those found-footage horror films and laughing at the negative reviews on a bed of money. Instead, he’s trying to call attention to something that has serious potential for contaminating our environment and drinking water. Water which, in case you’re wondering, we kind of need to live and might not have enough of in the future due in part to things like this going unchecked by our government on account of lobbyists and so forth. The problem with our government is that, too often, it DOESN’T stand in the way of people trying to make a buck. You’re demonizing the wrong party here. Change “guy” to “company” and then we’re in business. Because that’s what happening here.
And it’s ignorant statements and attitudes like yours that stifle people who attempt to place these things in the open and make it more and more difficult for this kind of thing to find an audience. In short, you’re hurting America.
Sounds to me like Andy Harris is a cylon.
Fracking Cylons, always trying to ruin things for humanity.
We have by far the dumbest, most sociopathic people in our society making all our policy decisions.
That’s because the American people are too fat and happy to give a damn. Bread and circuses.
Not entirely. While most Americans are lazy, the political system is in fact rigged in the favor of the incumbent. They have all sorts of tricks to stay in office forever and its all perfectly legal.
The vast majority of Americans don’t give a shit about politics, so long as their little lives aren’t disrupted. And they certainly don’t care about their “civic duty” (civics isn’t even taught in schools anymore).
Even if they did care, money and power is concentrated in the hands of the few. Anything short of a revolution isn’t likely to change the current system. The only power the general populace has is in their numbers, and they are divided and fighting amongst themselves (i.e. conservative vs. liberal, rather than upper class vs. lower class).
So, whatever. The same thing happened to the Roman Republic. It just happened to us in shorter time. People can vote for “change” all they want, but it’s not going to happen until they make it happen. The catch is…
“Once the monkeys learn they can vote themselves bananas, they’ll never climb another tree”. –Robert Heinlein (and yes, I meant it in a racist way, as per usual).
I’d even go so far as to say that most Americans are actually anti-civics nowadays, on both sides of the aisle.
The right-wing thinks private individuals have no obligation to their government (and any suggestion to the contrary is socialistic-Marxist-Nazism), and the left just doesn’t give a shit about it.
I mean, who wants to go do jury duty or serve in the military when there’s bread and circuses around? Fuck if I do. Life is cushy now. But, back when most people used to break their backs working on farms and in factories all day, the idea of serving jury duty probably didn’t seem so bad. It’s a byproduct of prosperity.
You’re correct about the right but wrong about the left. They care about civic duty, just don’t expect them to actually do any.
Not to get too political here, but I find the fact that the good journalists over at ClitParty.com consistently get denied press credentials is a pure outrage and the number one reason why I plan on voting independent this coming November.
They are all getting money from somebody. Start at 1:48.
[www.youtube.com]
REMEMBER THE SUNDANCE!
The Frack Show is the worst show on Adult Swim.
So what’s the difference between Congress and Christian Bale?
One has a problem with people filming hearings and the other has a problem with hearing people filming.
*bowtie spins*
“Unlawful entry” at the Capitol Building is when a congressman shows up to do nothing.
Can’t wait until the smut community gets a hold of this story so I can watch Josh Fucks get thrown out of a S.M.E.G.M.A. hearing while trying to film for his documentary AssLand (with sexy results)
I’ll softshoe myself out…
I’m sure I’ll get a million wingnut trolls in the comments telling me all the reasons Fox is an A-hole hippie
I’m never quite sure on the definition, but it’s irony that there’s an A-hole hippy named Fox, right? Like if there were some tea party nutjob out there in colonial garb named MSNBC or something?
*ticks “find new non-gender-specific baby name” off bucket list*
An entire post devoted to fracking, followed by a bunch of comments about it, and nobody uses it as a substitute for f*cking? When the frack did this place turn so highbrow? So I guess we’re all wearing shirts now, too? Whatever.
And you put an * in fucking, you cunt faggot retard nigger spic gook cracker person.
Handcuff City was my uncle’s nickname for his basement.
“Welcome to Gasland, bitch!” is what I plan on yelling at my brother-in-law when I treat him to a yokozuna after he falls asleep on the couch during the Super Bowl this weekend.
[www.urbandictionary.com]
WWhat do you mean, that because we are pumping millions of gallons of pollutants into the ground, and you test the groundwater, and when it wasn’t spontaneously combusting you found untenable evidence of irrationally high concentrations of those same pollutants in that water, that you think they are in some way related? Correlation does not lead to causation my friend! Get out with your logic, Sir, you are giving my intellectual dichotomy a cramp.
I’ll stick with IMDb for all my intellectual discussions on politics, thank you very much.
I don’t want to get political. I had my fill in the Palin post yesterday, which frankly, is way more sexy than this one. Anyhoo, see Gasland if you haven’t.
I assumed he was arrested for wearing a baseball cap indoors
Gosh, the quoted portion of that committee meeting sounded very technical. How many Representatives derisively called for a nerd to help them out because they weren’t nerdy enough to nerdy nerd nerd this nerd talk? NERDS, amirite?
Bigger and Gassier was the sequel to Precious.
“These hearings would be a lot more exciting if in order to table someone’s motion, you had to bodyslam him through a table like in wrestling. Then only the chairman could intervene, with a folding chair.”
Better yet, we use actual pro wrestlers as politicians. Just think of the renewed interest in government among the working class not to mention the inevitable softening of drug laws(those motherfuckers run on a cocktail of narcotics, caffeine and stripper cunt juice) and decisive results we would get.
“The Democratic representative of New York is dazed in the middle of the ring! He’s helpless! Here comes Stone Cold (R-Tex) with… THE STONE COLD STUNNER! Its all over! There you have, ladies and gentleman, the proposed gun legislation has now been struck down in what could be called a real slobberknocker of a match.
As a wingnut, I agree with you Vince. As long as he was not going to disrupt the proceedings, he should have been allowed to film.
My question is why he didn’t file the press paperwork, so he’d have every right to film unemcumbered. My cynical side says he wanted to be ejected to play up the hidden conspiracy syndicate angle for his film, like they were purposely kicking him out because he was about to put the whole system on trial.
That is quite possible. But again, if you’re the guy kicking him out, why play into it? There’s no upside. Best-case scenario, you look like the guy standing up for a technicality.