The takedown, which POLITICO noticed early Friday, apparently took place at the behest of a "citizen media" activist who had originally posted the video on YouTube, Inhofe spokesman Matt Dempsey said by email.
Dempsey said the video of EPA Region 6 Administrator Al Armendariz originally came from a YouTube channel called
"Citizen Media for We The People," run by someone named David McFatridge.
That name also appears on the YouTube
error screen that replaced Inhofe's Armendariz video link. It reads: "This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by David McFatridge. Sorry about that."
Dempsey wrote that "we will be looking into an official response for YouTube to the claim brought forward by David McFatridge of 'Citizen Media for We The People,' in the morning."
"In short, the video we cut and posted to our YouTube channel came from a YouTube channel, 'Citizen Media for We The People,' that said reuse is allowed and we attributed the site in the description of the video," Dempsey added. "Further in our original website post for our media advisory, we also included a link to the original source. .... Finally, it appears as of late yesterday afternoon that Citizen Media for We The People
took down all of the video content relating to Armendariz's hourlong comments."
The video excerpt posted by Inhofe has
inspired outrage among critics of EPA regulations, as well as calls by several Republican House members for Armendariz to either step down or be fired.
The "Citizens Media" channel includes videos about fracking, gay rights protests and other causes. McFatridge could not immediately be reached for comment.
