According to an article in Newsweek, BP and US Government representatives are stopping access to beaches and airspace where the worst impact of BP’s screwup can be seen and reported.
The latest instance of denied press access comes from Belle Chasse, La.-based Southern Seaplane Inc., which was scheduled to take a New Orleans Times-Picayune photographer for a flyover on Tuesday afternoon, and says it was denied permission once BP officials learned that a member of the press would be on board.
“We are not at liberty to fly media, journalists, photographers, or scientists,” the company said in a letter it sent on Tuesday to Sen. David Vitter (R-La.). “We strongly feel that the reason for this massive [temporary flight restriction] is that BP wants to control their exposure to the press.”[...]
“It’s a running joke among the journalists covering the story that the words ‘Coast Guard’ affixed to any vehicle, vessel, or plane should be prefixed with ‘BP,’ ” says Charlie Varley, a Louisiana-based photographer. “It would be funny if it were not so serious.”
BP is the 800lb gorilla in this passion play. They obviously cut corners everywhere in their drilling operations, and are now using their money and political influence to do damage control. –If a photo is likely to be damaging to the image of a concerned partner in this cleanup effort BP simply cuts access.
But when BP and their running dogs (the US Coast Guard) can manipulate the situation they greet the press with open arms. As witnessed by the well practiced, “we’re as concerned about this as you are,” look on their faces and the vast number of workers that suddenly appeared for the president’s photo-op.
This situation has proven beyond any shadow a doubt that the regulatory agencies are in bed with the oil companies and the disaster is far worse than any official report will say.
A team of scientists from the government and academia said Thursday that the leak is really spewing somewhere between 500,000 and a million gallons a day. BP says the boom has captured about 11.5 million gallons of oil so far.
Let’s do the math. A conservative estimate of 500,000 gallons of oil minimum being spewed into the ocean for 40 days that’s 20,000,000 gallons of oil so far.
Another article — “AP ENTERPRISE: Spill grew, BP’s credibility faded” By TAMARA LUSH, HOLBROOK MOHR and JUSTIN PRITCHARD, Associated Press Writers:
BP’s downplaying of the situation may have began with a phone call, some 16 hours after the rig exploded and killed 11 workers, leaving behind an inferno that burned for two days and has been leaking at least ever since the rig sank.
In a low-key tone, a man who identifies himself as BP employee Carlos Moreno notified Louisiana authorities that oil was unlikely to reach their shores. He emphasized that BP wanted to give a “heads up” about the sheen spotted floating near the crippled rig 50 miles off the Louisiana coast.
At first, the Coast Guard said there was no leak from the vast reservoir of oil more than a mile below the Gulf’s surface. Then, after analyzing images taken underwater by remote-controlled cameras, the Coast Guard estimated 42,000 gallons a day were leaking. A week after the explosion, that rose to 210,000 gallons.
In the mean time, all the rhetoric about tighter oversight and new regulations being spouted by politicians won’t change a damn thing. Not as long as politics remains a game of money, and people like British Petroleum have the cash. –Notice the five permits with “exceptions” for more drilling in the gulf that were issued when word got out that the president was going to try put a temporary stop to new drilling.
That’s the story boys and girls. We are being played, and anybody who is really surprised should take another happy pill and go back to sleep.
