The Daily Glob

"Groups Sue BP For Harm To Endangered Gulf Wildlife"

"U.S. environmental groups filed a suit on Wednesday against British-based oil giant BP Plc saying the world's worst offshore spill inflicted "ongoing unlawful" harm on endangered wildlife in the Gulf of Mexico." Matthew Bigg reports for Reuters October 21, 2010.

"Turtle Rescue Plan Succeeds"

"Scientists have revealed that a mammoth effort to move thousands of turtle eggs from beaches around the Gulf of Mexico after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill may have saved almost 15,000 of the reptiles." Melissa Gaskill reports for Nature News October 8, 2010.

"She Recruited Facebook Friends To Save Gulf Coast's Hermit Crabs"

When the Gulf oil spill came to Grand Isle State Park, Louisiana ranger Leanne Sarco knew her job running a summer program for children would be cancelled. So she used Facebook to recruit and organize volunteers in a project to clean oiled hermit crabs.

"'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.

"Gulf May Avoid Direst Predictions After Oil Spill"

"How much damage resulted from almost five million barrels of oil pouring into the Gulf of Mexico is still being toted up in laboratories and government offices."

Feds Shut Down All Independent Science on Spill Impacts

Having just been caught fudging the numbers on Gulf spill impacts, the federal government, with no apparent legal authority, is kicking independent scientists out of public areas in the Gulf and confiscating data and notes. The story came out on NPR's Science Friday, the complete audio of which is available online now here.   Or here.

It has been known for some while that scientists have been pushed to sign non-disclosure agreements if they are involved in the BP spill "Natural Resource Damage Assessment." But there are now numerous credible reports of independent academic scientists not involved in the NRDA being told to leave public gulf waters and lands by agents of the Fish & Wildlife Service and Dept. of Homeland Security. Scientists' samples and notes are being confiscated, even when the notes do not pertain to the secret areas.

Federal agents told research scientists that they could not do independent research in public areas without approval of the "Unified Command." It was the "Unified Command" that compiled the work of federal scientists, interpreted it, and published the Obama administration's preferred conclusions without data or documentation in the now-discredited August 4 report that said 3/4 of the oil was gone. A NOAA representative yesterday refused to give a Congressional committee the data on which the Obama White House's conclusions were based.

The story was laid out in a segment produced by Annette Heist on the August 20, 2010, edition of Science Friday, with a panel including Linda Hooper-Bui of Louisiana State University A&M, Christopher D'Elia of LSU, and Cary Nelson of the American Assn. of University Professors. Audio should be available here by 6 pm ET Aug.20.

Some of the events recounted by Dr.. Hooper-Bui were published in an opinion piece, "Oil's Stain on Science," in The Scientist August 5, 2010. Or available without registration here.

SEE ALSO:

"Research on Gulf Oil Spill Shouldn't Take A Backseat To Litigation," Washington Post, July 27, 2010, by Robert B. Gagosian and Christopher F. D'Elia

"Freedom of Spill Research Threatened," Nature, July 28, 2010, by Amanda Mascarelli

"The Case of the Missing $470 Million in BP's Promised Research Fund," Science, August 20, by Lauren Schenkman (by subscription; summary only available free)

"Murky Relationships Mark Scientific Efforts to Assess Gulf Spill's Impacts," Greenwire, August 18, 2010, by Laura Petersen

"Deepwater Horizon: A Scientist At The Centre of the Spill," Nature, August 4, 2010, by Mark Schrope

"Scientists Raise Queries About Gulf Oil Left Behind"

"Two new scientific reports on Tuesday raised fresh fears about the environmental fallout from the world's worst offshore oil spill and questioned government assurances that most of the oil from the ruptured well in the Gulf of Mexico was already gone.

With Well Capped, Scientists Begin Assessing Spill's Environmental Toll

"With the Deepwater Horizon well capped, federal officials have turned their energies toward holding BP accountable for the environmental damage caused by hundreds of millions of gallons of oil loosed into the Gulf.

"Oil Spill Plugged, But More Oiled Birds Than Ever Are Being Found"

"More than three weeks after BP capped its gushing oil well, skimming operations have all but stopped and federal scientists say just a quarter of the oil remains in the Gulf of Mexico. But wildlife officials are rounding up more oiled birds than ever as fledgling birds get stuck in the residual goo and rescuers make initial visits to rookeries they had avoided disturbing during nesting season." Paul Rioux reports for the New Orleans Times-Picayune August 8, 2010.

"EPA: Oil-Dispersant Mix in Gulf Is 'Moderately Toxic'"

"The EPA says that the brew of oil and dispersants still swirling in the Gulf of Mexico can be highly to moderately toxic to marine organisms at certain concentrations determined in a lab setting. The agency did not say whether those acute toxic levels are present in the open waters of the Gulf.