Secrecy in the Gulf!! . . . Oil Gate: The File . . . 6/13/10

[skip fox]

The big news . . . last night Thad Allen lifted the ban on reporters having to remain 65 feet from boom, workers, designated areas, etc. The did this late at night . . . I wonder why:

http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/07/coast_guard_lifts_ban_on_news.html


The following file, updated every day or so with what DUers bring to the post, concerns the misinformation and secrecy surrounding the BP Oil Spill. The file will be reposted (in new incarnations) every day or so on DU for its informational value while asking DUers (as now) for additional links to credible articles, stories, videos, and papers concerning both BP's and/or the government's secrecy. (Please provide links and if questionalbe, a judgment of the items credibility.)

A sensibly arranged, easy-to-use list of links to items concerning all the secret (or at least under-reported) areas of the event, especially concerning crews and clean-up (including workers, training, and health, as well as disposal of materials) and suspension of 1st amendment rights within 65 feet of clean-up efforts can be very valuable for us to have and share with others (including reporters).

So please, DU, in the spirit of the valuable bibliographies in the past concerning events or scandals (e.g., HarkenGate), please attach to this post links to credible items which summarize BP's deceptions, show reporters kept needlessly away from clean-up efforts (there are good reasons at times), show the police aiding BP's security, indicate government efforts to discourage information and first-hand reporting.

When you send in a link, I'll read the story, post the link in a logical section, and give the DU poster credit.

It is already clear the Huffington Post and Mother Jones are two of the major investigative outlets. Anderson Cooper on CNN has also been vocal and intelligent on this issue. Here's to them!

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Secrecy in General

–An early (May 18) story on McClachy by Marisa Taylor and Renee Schoof ("BP withholds oil spill facts--and government lets it") indicates BP is controlling information with government's help. Esp. information on worker safety and health:

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/05/18/94415/bps-secrecy-keep-facts-on-gulf.html


–AP on June 1 reported the limitations on reporters in the story in "News outlets claim access to Gulf oil spill site is limited":

http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=23004


–On June 4th, Joe Davis published a short but salient article at Seattle PostGlobe with a brief list (with links) to earlier stories about forms of secrecy, "Secrecy and the BP oil spill: Media access to oil-impacted areas disputed":

http://seattlepostglobe.org/2010/06/04/secrecy-in-the-bp-oil-spill-media-access-to-oil-impacted-areas-disputed


–In early to mid June, Anderson Cooper on CNN made a number of reports on BP’s lack of transparency. Here’s an elaborate one (or several spliced) from June 10th:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8mREhpw01g


–Another compilation by Cooper on CNN of BP and the Coast Guard keeping reporters from wildlife, beaches, etc. and discouraging workers to talk:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Blw-BZYi9M8&feature=related


–Anderson Cooper’s no nonsense, July 1st, clear and eloquent appeal (“We are not the enemy here”) on CNN against the government’s support of BP’s secrecy (concerning Thad Allen of the Coast Guard suspending 1st Amendment Rights keeping reporters 65 feet away from workers, booms, &c.):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpJBsjKhRTo


–On June 22 Jason Linkins in Huffington Post writes a story ""BP's Media Clampdown Continues: Activist Hassled by Louisiana Police") on BP's secrecy going so far as to having Louisiana police attempt to block Drew Wheelan from filming a BP headquarters, with a surprising video:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/22/bps-media-clampdown-conti_n_621497.html


–On July 3, Georgianne Nienaber "Facing the Future as a Media Felon on the Gulf Coast" for Huffington Post detailed the suspension of 1st Amendment rights, including listing some of her run-ins with Talon (a private security firm) and The Coast Guard:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/georgianne-nienaber/facing-the-future-as-a-me_b_634661.html


–On July 5, Salon's Glenn Greenwald's "The BP/Government Police State" gives an overview of BP' use of police to reinforce their security by harrasing reporters &c.

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


–In Truth Out Dahr Jamail's "Hell Has Come to South Louisiana" (July 11) focuses on a shrimper, Clint Guidry of the Louisiana Shrimp Alliance, who testifies about government collusion with BP to deceive the public almost from the beginning:

http://www.truth-out.org/dahr-jamail-hell-has-come-south-louisiana61281


–Recently, June 13, The New York Times carried David Carr's "A Disaster, Privately Managed" in the Media and Advertising section which details his time in the Gulf. The second half of the item is on BP's secrecry:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/14/business/media/14carr.html?_




Blockade of Spill

–An early item listed by Joe Davis (above) is Matthew Phillip's May 26th "BP's Photo Blockade of the Gulf Oil Spill" in Newsweek:

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/05/26/the-missing-oil-spill-photos.html




Clean-Up Efforts:

--Denial of Access:

–On May 18, CBS was denied access by Coast Guard on behalf of BP as can be seen a bit over ½ way into this YouTube video of a CBS Nightly News segment:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sgf9BL1rclY&feature=PlayList&p=064947423018C249&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=18

shorter version (of just the Coast Guard stopping the reporter):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mx4rgZpIIfE&feature=related



–Mac McClelland's earliest story (May 24) for Morther Jones about being denied access and having local police enforcing BP "rules" in "'It's BP's Oil":

http://motherjones.com/environment/2010/05/oil-spill-bp-grand-isle-beach


–On May 18, CBS was denied access by Coast Guard on behalf of BP as can be seen a bit over ½ way into this YouTube video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sgf9BL1rclY&feature=PlayList&p=064947423018C249&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=18

shorter version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mx4rgZpIIfE&feature=related


–Mac McClelland's June 1st story for Mother Jones, "'Ignore Her,'" mainly concerns her trying to gain access to Grand Isle with a PBS producer:

http://motherjones.com/rights-stuff/2010/06/shut-down-due-bp


–Late on July 12th, Thad Allen lifted restrictions on the press, allowing themto go within 65 feet of booms &c. as reported by The Associated Press (but why so late at night?):

http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/07/coast_guard_lifts_ban_on_news.html




Dispersants:

–On July 6, Elana Schor of Greenwire in the New York Times wrote: "Ingredients of Controversial Dispersants Used on Gulf Spill Are Secrets No More," noting EPA's reluctance to disclose ingredients::

http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/06/09/09greenwire-ingredients-of-controversial-dispersants-used-42891.html


–On July 11 Mike Adams on Natural News wrote "Toxic Corexit dispersant chemicals remain secret as feds collude with Big Business" about the dangerous chemical make-up of BP dispersents and claims EPA helped hide ingredients, placing a company's "corporate secrets" over public interest:

http://www.naturalnews.com/028974_Corexit_dispersants.html


–DU's truedelphi provided a YouTube interview with Dr. Chris Pincetich (UC-San Diego) of Pacific Eco Reach and The Sea Turtle Restoration Project in which he speaks of Corexit's toxicity and effects on wildlife. Discusses night time (secret?) sprayings.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FxfYqnlQ50




Clean-Up Workers:

Who are they? We're told they are working for contractors. Who? Where are they hired from? What are their benefits? Can they use the appropriate equipment? Why won't contractors let anyone speak to them?


–Brad Johnson for Think Progress provides one of the most comprehensive disclosures of the contractors, providing a number of company names in his June 18th “BP’s Secret Army of Oil Contractors.” He nicely dovetails information from a variety of sources with his first hand efforts making the piece extremely valuable on the nature of specific contractors (“they are Legion,” as they say):

http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2010/06/18/bp-contractor-army/



--Denial of Access to Workers:

–A YouTube video of a citizen trying to watch and record emergency personel attending to an apparently ill worker while the police comes to the aid of BP security. Very telling:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pi8R_FUGys


–On July 12 in another Jason Linkins piece for The Huffington Post, Adam Dillon BP Contractor, who Once Blocked a Local Reporter Became a Whistleblower (With Video)," includes two videos, the first shows WDSU's Adam Dillion trying to speak to BP contracted workers and the second with the former contractor guessing as to what BP may be trying to hide (something about the dispersants):

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/12/adam-dillon-bp-contractor_n_642894.html



Effects on Beach, Wetlands, Wildlife:

--Reports/Pictures of Death and Dying Wildlife Discouraged:

BP of course doesn't want pictures of dead animal taken (can they legally prevent it?). Below is Jason Linkin's "BP Media Clampdown: No Phots of Dead Animals, Please" in The Huffington Post:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/02/bp-media-clampdown-no-pho_n_598119.html

(This item also show how workers are not allowed to talk to reporters.)

Riki Ott, the marine toxicologist often interviewed on television writes a June 11 piece for Huffington Post ("From the Ground: BP Censoring Media, Destroying Evidence") on BP using Coast Guard to inhibit access to soiled beaches and claims the studies that BP actively discourages are essential to understanding damage to eco-system:

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


DI's Cetacea provided this like to a set of videos BP had apparently banned They were for for AU 60 Minutes and are highly professionally produced as well as . It appears that they mostly deal with wildlife damage (and include some horrific pictures of birds &c.). I've included them because they were supressed, apparently, by BP.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcvzkrPL9C4



Secrecy on Disposal of Beach Oil

On July 6, The Houston Chronicle ran an editorial, "Burying the Spill: Disposal of BP spill wast in Texas needs more public scrutiny," noting the secrecy surroundin disposal in Texas:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/7096721.html



In this YouTube Video a young reporter, after having to follow the disposal truck is denied access to a Waste Management facility by police! All very spooky and real:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZnuEoyByP4

[Poboy]

1. k&r

[Angry Dragon]

2. I am very much interested in this post

but I was wondering if you plan on highlighting what you are adding as you go??
Just a comment

[HockeyMom]

3. They also don't want you to know

that the spill in not just in one big lump over the Gulf Coastline states. It has been 3 months. There are threads oil spill going all over the Gulf. The loop current has already taken this over the tip of Florida to the Atlantic side of Florida. There are satellite pictures of this. There are tar balls washing up on Cocoa Beach. There are oil slicks off the coast of Miami. Shrimpers in this area are catching shrimp covering in oil. People in Miami are taking pictures of oil slicks from high story condos.

Oh, there is so much mainstream media is not reporting on. However, in the Internet Age it is all out there for those who want to see can.

[babydollhead]

4. I really appreciate what you are doing

There is EVERY kind of worry about this. There is a lot of denial and misinformation. I've been following a fisherman's wife's facebook page, Kindra Arnesen. It seems to be a clearing house of links, news, detoxifying after Corexit exposure, help for people who want to leave the Gulf, exposure maps, what to do if you are stopped by a policeman for filming or taking pictures,

[gateley]

5. K&R -- (and OT: >>>

Thanks for the link to the Seattle PostGlobe -- I'd never heard of it. Turns out it's former P-I folks. I'm happy to see what they're doing now.)

[dipsydoodle]

6. I suggested not long after the outset

that ALL BP poste be grouped together in a forum and the idea was promptly dismissed by those who generally only read LBN and GD. That was proably the only way in which posts could readily be found in future and would also have helped prevent multiple duplication.

[babydollhead]

7. thank you. you were right

I think as more and more of us become aware of what is going on, as it slowly creeps in under our weird fog of complacency, we will want to know. This catastrophic environmental disaster is unfolding as we sit here.

[babydollhead]

8. kick

[skip fox]

9. Please send me links so I can update this later today (Wed.) or tomorrow.

I'll be looking through whatever I can get of The Nation today.