[THS] BP Censoring Media, Destroying Evidence

[The Harder Stuff in news and commentary]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/riki-ott/from-the-ground-bp-censor_b_608724.html


Riki Ott

Marine toxicologist and Exxon Valdez survivor RikiOtt.com
Posted: June 11, 2010 09:18 AM

>From the Ground: BP Censoring Media, Destroying Evidence

Orange Beach, Alabama -- While President Obama insists that the federal
government is firmly in control of the response to BP's spill in the Gulf, people in
coastal communities where I visited last week in Louisiana and Alabama know an
inconvenient truth: BP -- not our president -- controls the response. In fact, people
on the ground say things are out of control in the gulf.

Even worse, as my latest week of adventures illustrate, BP is using federal agencies to
shield itself from public accountability.

For example, while flying on a small plane from New Orleans to Orange Beach, the
pilot suddenly exclaimed, "Look at that!" The thin red line marking the federal flight
restrictions of 3,000 feet over the oiled Gulf region had just jumped to include the
coastal barrier islands off Alabama.

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"There's only one reason for that," the pilot said. "BP doesn't want the media taking
pictures of oil on the beaches. You should see the oil that's about six miles off the
coast," he said grimly. We looked down at the wavy orange boom surrounding the
islands below us. The pilot shook his head. "There's no way those booms are going to
stop what's offshore from hitting those beaches."

BP knows this as well -- boom can only deflect oil under the calmest of sea
conditions, not barricade it -- so they have stepped up their already aggressive effort
to control what the public sees.

At the same time I was en route to Orange Beach, Clint Guidry with the Louisiana
Shrimp Association and Dean Blanchard, who owns the largest shrimp processor in
Louisiana, were in Grand Isle taking Anderson Cooper out in a small boat to see the
oiled beaches. The U.S. Coast Guard held up the boat for 20 minutes - an
intimidation tactic intended to stop the cameras from recording BP's damage. Luckily
for Cooper and the viewing public, Dean Blanchard is not easily intimidated.

2010-06-12-UPLOAD2.jpg

A few days later, the jig was up with the booms. Oil was making landfall in four states
and even BP can't be everywhere at once. CBS 60 Minutes Australia found entire
sections of boom hung up in marsh grasses two feet above the water off Venice. On
the same day on the other side of Barataria Bay, Louisiana Bayoukeeper documented
pools of oil and oiled pelicans inside the boom - on the supposedly protected
landward side - of Queen Bess Island off Grand Isle.

With oil undisputedly hitting the beaches and the number of dead wildlife mounting,
BP is switching tactics. In Orange Beach, people told me BP wouldn't let them collect
carcasses. Instead, the company was raking up carcasses of oiled seabirds. "The
heads separate from the bodies," one upset resident told me. "There's no way those
birds are going to be autopsied. BP is destroying evidence!"

The body count of affected wildlife is crucial to prove the harm caused by the spill,
and also serves as an invaluable tool to evaluate damages to public property - the
dolphins, sea turtles, whales, sea birds, fish, and more, that are owned by the
American public. Disappeared body counts means disappeared damages - and
disappeared liability for BP. BP should not be collecting carcasses. The job should be
given to NOAA, a federal agency, and volunteers, as was done during the Exxon
Valdez oil spill in Alaska.

NOAA should also be conducting carcass drift studies. Only one percent of the dead
sea birds made landfall in the Gulf of Alaska, for example. That means for every one
bird that was found, another 99 were carried out to sea by currents. Further, NOAA
should be conducting aerial surveys to look for carcasses in the offshore rips where
the currents converge. That's where the carcasses will pile up--a fact we learned
during the Exxon Valdez spill. Maybe that's another reason for BP's "no camera"
policy and the flight restrictions.

2010-06-12-UPLOAD3.jpg

On Saturday June 12, people across America will stand up and speak out with one
voice to protest BP's treatment of the Gulf, neglect for the response workers, and
their response to government authority. President Obama needs to hear and see the
people waving cameras and respirators. Until the media is allowed unrestricted
access to the Gulf and impacted beaches, BP - not the President of United States -
will remain in charge of the Gulf response.