EPA accused at hearing of doctoring video from Gold King Mine spill

The Environmental Protection Agency was accused Wednesday of doctoring footage from the Gold King Mine spill, removing the audio of a worker saying, “What do we do now?” During a House committee hearing on the accident, Rep. Bill Johnson, Ohio Republican, showed what he said was an original on-site video taken the day of the Aug. 5 spill, which includes the audio, and then the same video posted on the EPA’s website that beeps out the audio. “The last few seconds of the audio has been removed to prevent the viewers from hearing the team on the ground saying, ‘What do we do now?’” said Mr. Johnson during the House Science, Space, and Technology hearing. He quizzed Mathy Stanislaus, assistant administrator of the EPA’s Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response, about the apparent removal of the audio. The EPA posted a disclaimer on its website saying that profanity from its videos had been removed and license plates blurred, but that otherwise the agency “did not edit the videos.”...more