The Daily Glob

Conflicts, Low-Balling Blamed for Slow Reaction To Gulf Spill

"Conflicts between federal and local officials as well as the Obama administration's low estimates of the BP oil spill slowed the response to the disaster, according to one of four draft staff reports issued Wednesday by a White House commission.

'While it is not clear that this misplaced optimism (about the flow of oil) affected any individual response effort, it may have affected the scale and speed with which national resources were brought to bear,' said one of the staff reports by the the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling Commission. 'Most responders,' the report said, thought the initial approach was 'too slow and unfocused.'"

Bruce Alpert and Mark Schleifstein report for the New Orleans Times-Picayune October 7, 2010.

"White House Pushes Back on Spill Report"

"The White House is pushing back against the draft reports the National Oil Spill Commission released Wednesday  on the Deepwater Horizon oil spill that included scathing criticism of the administration's handling of the disaster. The reports' harshest criticism was directed toward the administration's handling of information about the size of the spill and the extent of the damage.

'This was an unprecedented environmental disaster met with an unprecedented federal response which prevented any of the worst-case scenarios from coming to fruition,' White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters Thursday. 'When we had information, we gave it to the public.'

He also refuted the report's claim that the Office of Management and Budget blocked another federal agency from releasing estimates about the worst-case scenario for the spill. 'No information was altered. No information was withheld. And nothing in the report had anything to do with the robust response,' said Gibbs."

Kate Sheppard reports for Mother Jones October 8, 2010.

SEE ALSO:

"WH Defends Oil Spill Predictions After Report Claims It Hid Worst-Case Numbers" (TPM Muckraker)


"Just How Much Did the Feds Screw Up Gulf Spill Estimates?" (Mother Jones)

Are Feds Withholding Gulf Seafood Testing Data?

"National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and FDA officials maintain they've provided results of ongoing Gulf seafood safety tests with the utmost transparency. But outside scientists, eager to perform independent evaluations of the government's findings, complain the information released contains far too many unknown variables that preclude peer review." Brad Jacobson reports for Raw Story October 7, 2010.

"Panel: Gov't Blocked Worst-Case Oil Spill Figures"

"The White House blocked efforts by federal scientists to tell the public just how bad the Gulf oil spill could have been, according to a panel appointed by President Barack Obama to investigate the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history.

In documents released Wednesday, the national oil spill commission's staff reveals that in late April or early May the White House budget office denied a request from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to make public the worst-case discharge from the blown-out well. The Unified Command — the government team in charge of the spill response — also was discussing the possibility of making the numbers public, the report says, citing interviews with government officials.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment."

Dina Cappiello reports for the Associated Press October 6, 2010.

SEE ALSO:

"Report Slams Administration for Underestimating Gulf Spill" (New York Times)

"White House Blocked BP Oil Spill Estimates: Panel" (Reuters)

"Spill Commission Report Details Failures of Administration's 'Oil
Budget'" (Washington Independent)

"'Not an Incidental Public Relations Problem'" (Mother Jones)

"White House Suppressed Oil-Flow Estimates, Federal Commission
Reports" (NPR)

Federal Cops to Gulf Journos: Don't Dig -- It's Illegal

"What are you in for?" a grizzled inmate might ask some future jailed journalist. "Building sand castles," the journalist might well reply. Police officers from the Fish & Wildlife Service and National Park Service are telling journalists they may not dig or build sand castles on public Gulf of Mexico beaches. The apparent problem: they might discover that layers of oil lie beneath beaches the feds and BP have declared clean.

Forget what they taught you in J-school; the feds say journalists are not supposed to dig. Don't believe us? Watch the video:

 

Reporter Dan Thomas of WEAR ABC 7 TV (Pensacola) ventured out to the Gulf Islands National Seashore September 18, 2010, toy beach shovel in hand. He quickly found layers of crude oil less than a foot below the surface -- giving the lie to BP and government claims that beaches had been cleaned.

He was quickly accosted, first by a US Fish & Wildlife agent, and then by a uniformed National Park Service police officer, and told that what he was doing was illegal. Illegal to report in a National Park without a press pass (Thomas had one). Illegal to dig in a National Park (this one was a tourist beach). Illegal to dig below 6 inches. Even illegal to build sand castles. And the officers left the impression that it might be illegal to ask why.

In fact, the feds have yet to document definitively that any of these things are illegal. They fit a larger pattern of BP and federal agents illegally restricting access to reporters trying to report on the impacts of the BP Gulf oil spill.

-- "Building Sand Castles on Florida’s Beaches Is Illegal, Feds Tell
Oil-Hunting Reporter," Raw Story, September 19, 2010, by Stephen C.
Webster.

-- "BP's Press Harassment Continues," Mother Jones, September 21,
2010, by Jen Phillips.

-- Previous Stories: WatchDogs of June 30, 2010 ;  July 14, 2010 ;  July 14, 2010 ;   and August 25, 2010 .

"Whistleblower Group Sues To Find Out Why Administration Lowballed BP Oil Spill Estimates"

"What led Obama administration officials to wildly understate the size of the BP oil spill until it was all over? Was it just a series of honest mistakes? Or was science being manipulated for political purposes? An environmental whistleblower group suspects the latter, and its distrust has only grown as the U.S. Geological Survey, one of several agencies involved in assessing the flow rate, has refused to turn over relevant documents including directives from political appointees.

"'This Is Our Beat'"

"Shortly after the Deepwater Horizon sank and oil began erupting into the Gulf of Mexico in late April, the 105-year-old Audubon magazine did something that it had never done before—it sent a blogger to cover a breaking news event in real time.

"Editorial: If Oil Spill Info Is Public Record, Let's See It"

In Alabama, Shelby Co. lawyer John Aaron, a Democrat, is seeking records about possible misuse of BP spill compensation money from State Sen. Ben Brooks, a Republican. The Mobile Press-Register editorializes in favor of disclosing public documents in the matter.

"AP ENTERPRISE: A Look at Who Got Gov't Gulf Work"

"The federal government hired a New Orleans man for $18,000 to appraise whether news stories about its actions in the Gulf oil spill were positive or negative for the Obama administration, which was keenly sensitive to comparisons between its response and former President George W. Bush's much-maligned reaction to Hurricane Katrina.

BP Plans To Release Investigation of Itself on Gulf Disaster Today

BP plans to release today its internal investigation of its own role, and any possible wrongdoing or errors by its own officials, in the Deepwater Horizon blowout disaster. Even though some key BP decisionmakers are not talking to federal investigators -- claiming ill health or the Fifth Amendment -- documents describing what they are alleged to have told BP are coming to light. BP would be legally and financially liable for whatever it finds in its self-investigation. By issuing its report before conclusions come from any government or independent investigations, BP stands to dominate the news media narrative on the disaster. James C. Mckinley Jr. reports for the New York Times September 7, 2010

SEE ALSO:

"Investigation Into BP's Other Big Gulf Operation Still Not Done" (Mother Jones)

"BP To Admit Partial Blame for Deepwater Oil Spill" (Guardian)

"BP To Release Its Report Today" (Houston Chronicle)

"BP's Internal Report on Gulf Spill Is Due" (MarketWatch)

"BP To Release Results of Investigation Into Oil Spill Disaster" (CNN)

"BP Report on Gulf Oil Disaster To Accept 'Some Blame'" (AFP)

"All Eyes on BP Report on Gulf Oil Spill Disaster" (AP)

BP Shares Up Five Cents Ahead of Report (Barrons)

"BP: Braced for Humiliation" (BBC News)