For those who haven’t heard, and to follow up with our “Gasland” viewing - Josh Fox, the man behind “Gasland”, and his crew, were arrested by Capitol Police on Wednesday as they attempted to film public hearings on groundwater contamination and its relation to fracking in a specific town in Wyoming. It’s rare for anyone to be denied access to public hearings (ABC film crews were also removed from the hearing - though not arrested).

Huffington Post has a few updates, including video of the arrest and Fox’s public statement: 

I was arrested today for exercising my First Amendment rights to freedom of the press on Capitol Hill. I was not expecting to be arrested for practicing journalism. Today’s hearing in the House Energy and Environment subcommittee was called to examine EPAs findings that hydraulic fracturing fluids had contaminated groundwater in the town of Pavillion, Wyoming. I have a long history with the town of Pavillion and its residents who have maintained since 2008 that fracking has contaminated their water supply. I featured the stories of residents John Fenton, Louis Meeks and Jeff Locker in GASLAND and I have continued to document the catastrophic water contamination in Pavillion for the upcoming sequel GASLAND 2. It would seem that the Republican leadership was using this hearing to attack the three year Region 8 EPA investigation involving hundreds of samples and extensive water testing which ruled that Pavillion’s groundwater was a health hazard, contaminated by benzene at 50x the safe level and numerous other contaminants associated with gas drilling. Most importantly, EPA stated in this case that fracking was the likely cause.