Republicans Order Filmmaker Arrested at Public Hearing on Fracking [Politics]

Republicans controlling the U.S. House Subcommittee on Energy and Environment ordered the arrest this morning of Academy Award-nominated Gasland director Josh Fox who was attempting to film a public hearing on natural gas fracturing techniques, or "Fracking" as the practice has come to be known.

Fox won widespread critical acclaim for his 2010 film documentary examining the oil and gas industry practice of injecting millions of gallons of water and chemicals deep into the ground to break up shale rock to extract the natural gas trapped there. While natural gas is a cleaner alternative to crude oil as a fuel source, companies engaging in the fracking process refuse to release information about the chemicals they use in the process. The practice has been common for decades, but the now famous video of a man lighting his tap water on fire brought it to national attention.

According to reports, the public hearing was already being filmed by C-SPAN, but Fox and his film crew requested permission to film the hearing with their own cameras to get a higher quality production. Fox was denied permission to film the hearing; Democrats on the committee attempted to postpone the hearing until their requests could be accommodated. Republicans on the committee refused such requests. When Fox showed up to the public hearing with his camera anyway, the Republican committee members ordered Capital Hill police to arrest the journalist for "unlawful entry" to the supposed "public" hearing.

Democratic lawmakers were upset by the arrest, with Rep. Zoe Lofgren of California calling it "an outrageous violation of the First Amendment." Under a Democratic majority on the committee through 2010, filmmakers were regularly granted same-day permission to film the committee hearings so long as they did not interfere or get in the way. This arrest takes on added political importance as public criticism against oil and gas industry secrecy and fracking procedures has increased since the release of Gasland.