** 02/27/12  This article has been updated since its original posting to include new reports showing more of ExxonMobil’s claims to be false.  Please see update notes in the article. **

The past two years has seen a groundswell in environmental action.  Millions have participated in expressing their disdain for the destructive policies of big oil.  This past year alone saw fracking banned in European countries and some U.S. states, as well as a denial of the Keystone XL pipeline through Canada and the U.S.  The outcry has been so large that even the millions of dollars being dumped into politics by big oil each year has not been enough to overpower the fierce wave of resistance from ordinary citizens demanding real change.

With few off-the-payroll friends to turn to, it seems ExxonMobil is attempting to energize anyone with past ties or stock options with the company.  A private source sent us this email from an ExxonMobil retiree only mailing list: DOWNLOAD PDF HERE, or JPG file,or scroll to the bottom of this post for a text-only version.

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As reported on Wednesday, Feb. 1st 2012, Oscar nominated filmmaker / investigative journalist Josh Fox was removed in handcuffs from a Public Hearing on Hydraulic Fracturing.  No other independent media outlets had access to cover this meeting. So what is it exactly that the GOP did not want mass media attention drawn to?

The hearing in question was to review a new report by the EPA proving drinking water in Pavilion, Wyoming has been contaminated due to nearby fracking efforts.  The study was done over the course of 3 1/2 years after area residents claimed strange odors and colors in their drinking water, some of whom began displaying symptoms of illness.

The contents of these meetings were livestreamed via science.house.gov, as is currently standard. These webcasts are of very poor video quality and often receive little to no attention.  It is therefore often up to members of the media to cover these public hearings in order to draw wider attention to the issues discussed.

I have taken the first 20 minutes of these discussions, after the near hour of delays while the GOP was ensuring the arrest of outside media, and put them on YouTube for easy viewing.  The entire stream can be viewed directly as an archived webcast of science.house.gov.

How to get involved: Keep a close eye on Josh Fox’s Gasland blog. More info and responses to this are sure to come soon. Twitter feed is also available there.