Why would House Republicans bar an Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker from last week's public hearing on hydraulic fracturing? Hmmmmmm. Could it be that they're hiding something? Nah, couldn't be – particularly in light of the fact that the filmmaker happened to be environmental crusader Josh Fox, whose film "Gasland" awoke America to the grave environmental and public health risks tied to fracking. It was an unfortunate episode nonetheless, adding yet another layer to the veil of secrecy surrounding the controversial natural gas extraction process known as fracking. Remember, we're talking about an industry that finds transparency so distasteful that it refuses to disclose the chemicals it injects deep into the ground to extract natural gas. At the behest of Maryland Republican Andy Harris, chairman of the House energy and environment subcommittee, Capitol Police handcuffed Mr. Fox and forcibly removed him from the hearing. The subcommittee was looking into an EPA study tying groundwater contamination to fracking. So why was Mr. Fox so rudely excluded from all the fun? Consider this from a Feb. 1 New York Times report by John Broder: Mr. Fox is preparing a sequel to “Gasland,” which has contributed to widespread concern about fracking, a method of mining that uses large ...
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