The natural gas industry and its Conservative allies have adopted the very same toxic and dirty characteristics as the hydraulic fracturing chemicals they are advocating for.

Josh Fox, the Oscar-nominated director of “Gasland”, the eye-opening documentary showcasing the ills of hydraulic fracturing, was arrested on Wednesday, February 1st. Fox was handcuffed at  a public congressional hearing after Republican representatives complained about his camera equipment.

Fox, however, was within his First Amendment constitutional rights. It is quite obvious that the controversial topic of the hearing (the EPA’s recently published report proving the harmful effects of the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing on drinking water) made the Conservatives uneasy about Fox’s presence. They didn’t want their ill-motives promoting industry at the expense of the health of people and the environment to be documented and included in “Gasland 2”. Fox was arrested simply because he is a well-known environmental advocate against the expansion of the destructive natural gas industry.

The intense partisanship of environmental issues has never been so obvious. The film footage of Fox being detained was captured on the iPhones of Democratic representatives unhappy with the decision to arrest the filmmaker. Funny, isn’t it, how their film devices didn’t lead to their arrests. I guess that would be a bit out of line if the Republicans called for the arrest of every Democrat at the hearing…

Fox’s arrest is a victory for environmentalists and a short-sighted failure for the Republican committee members. Although Fox was unable to retrieve the film footage he needed, “Gasland 2” is now a highly anticipated film. Maybe Republicans should stop spending so much time and effort trying to prove the EPA wrong in its assessment of the danger of hydraulic fracturing, and join the effort in moving forward and adopting the clean renewable energy sources our society and planet are desperately crying for.

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