BP Refuses to Allow Scientists to Test Oil Spill Samples

Friday, June 11, 2010
(photo: Lee Celano, Reuters)

Scientists in Florida are concerned that large plumes of oil floating beneath the surface in the Gulf of Mexico originated from the Deepwater Horizon spill, and want to test their samples against oil collected by BP. But the oil corporation is refusing to cooperate.

 
University of South Florida scientist David Hollander said he was “just taken aback” by BP’s unwillingness to assist in a scientific inquiry into the trouble. “It was a little unsettling.”
 
BP has publicly refused to acknowledge responsibility for the large masses of petroleum floating deep in the gulf which could be headed towards Florida. Company CEO Tony Hayward has gone so far as to insist the oil is “on the surface” of the ocean and that “there aren’t any plumes.”
 
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, however, is now saying oil has been discovered under the surface, although at “very low concentrations.”
 
In addition to not cooperating with scientists, BP has refused to grant media requests to fly over the gulf to capture images of oil slicks—refusals that also have been backed by federal agencies involved in the response effort.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
 
Efforts to Limit the Flow of Spill News (by Jeremy Peters, New York Times)

Comments

FreshMeat 14 years ago
Corexit is harmful for decades, it will taint the oceans bottom for many generations, killing everything in it's path , it chemically binds with the oil to form a hard as cement base that will continue to release toxins for decades off the ocean surface. Despite 50% or more of the chemical makeup is "classified" it could be anything in it. I think the oceans could survive the spill, but not the human intervention of toxins combined. This is just what they "Oligarchy" want, part of codex. Agenda21.
icmoney 14 years ago
if their responsibility is to the shareholder then isn't it in their interests to clean this up before it does damage as the worse the damage gets the lower their stock prices go??? if corporations have the same rights as people because of a F&#^ing memo then the company takes the fall and no real people have to go to jail right???? so thats why no one is going to go to jail? ever? not even a revoked permit or license or tax break? no? were going to let them drill another two to try and fix this one? and that may not even work? well at least its only 1000 barrels a day right? oh wait you mean 5000, yea its definitely only 5000 right? wait now they are sucking up 5000 barrels a day and its not even half of it? wait now its at least 20,000 barrels a day? well oil isn't that bad right? we can scoop it up off the surface so it doesn't kill everything and destroy local economies and assets right? so they're illegally dumping millions of gallons of toxins into the ocean to mix up the oil so that it doesn't float to the surface just so we don't see it? well at least they will then clean it up so it wont just slush around and settle all over Florida and the eastern seaboard creating mass extinctions of local sea life right? well they promised to clean it all up right? so they only promised to pay for reasonable damages as determined by them? but its not like they can supersede the courts or anything, people can sue right? so they got congress to allow them to supersede the law? so they are only liable for 75 million in damages? well its not like this is tens if not hundreds of billions of dollars of damage right? and if it is its not like we will have to destroy one of the founding principles of the constitution to hold them liable for any further damages right? everything must be fine its not like we are seeing many pictures of damage. people who are affected are being pressured by bp to keep quiet or anything right? well its not like they are keeping the media out or anything right? well its not like the government is getting involved in that right? well its not like everyone who's economy was completely destroyed had no option but to work for BP and signed a contract telling them not to talk to the media right? well at least their top hat/cap/plug/pump/heater/pipeline/golf ball plan will work right? well we have the navy and coast guard and army corps of engineers and help from other countries right? so we refused help from other countries who were already equipped and ready to handle this kind of thing? and we still have our thumbs up our asses? and the government isn't getting involved in its own territorial waters in the worst environmental crisis ever? well wait the EPA should have something to say right? wait the EPA is still battling for the possibility of regulating carbon emissions? and this is also due to lobbying of congress? WTF America? is anything going right?
Johnny de Vulcan 14 years ago
One other reason why they do not want it analysed , could be the fact that they have poured Corexit,a neuro-toxin that is deadly in doses of 2.6 p.p.million, into it,making Corexit 11 times more toxic. That will evaporate and drift over the American continent where it will mix with the chem-trails. There is allready attempts to revive the flu-scare. Guess if the Corexit will be forgotten and replaced by a new fatal disease.
Darkwingbird 14 years ago
Corporations are (for some oddball reasoning) defined as "persons" with the same rights and responsibilities issuing thereunto under the law. BP's first responsibility is to be a good citizen.
Uncle B 14 years ago
BP is a corporation. BP's first responsibility is to the shareholder - such is corporate law! Live with it Yankee doodle!
A Voice 14 years ago
I didn't know that such a thing could be refused. This country is no longer free people. We live in a dictatorship. Look up Monsanto. They make BP look like saints. One day... ha! I'll just let you look them up.
Anon. 14 years ago
It seems dangerous for media helicopter or airplanes to fly over while other things are going on. I'm also sickened by the add to my right "BP Spill - Blame Obama?" We have no one to blame but ourselves and I'm surprised this hasn't happened sooner. Oh wait, it did... 30 years ago.
Just ME in T 14 years ago
This oil spill is now 4 times larger than the Exxon Valdez.... and we still trust BP in anything????? Awwwwwwwwww come on guys pleazzzzze Relearn (learn) just how many perfidious acts BP has been caught out in so far! Then ask yourself, "why are we entrusting the fixing of this entire catastrophe to them?" BP is ‘doing everything it can’ (so it tells us) to stem the humongous geyser of oil, gushing from the severed pipe, beneath what once was the Deepwater Horizon Oil Rig in the Gulf of Mexico. The rig exploded and sank, on April 20, 2010 killing 11 workers and injuring 17 others. http://just-me-in-t.blogspot.com/
L. Colins 14 years ago
"BP refused to grant media requests to fly over the gulf"? When did BP get an air force?

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