After Oil Rig Blast, BP Refused to Share Underwater Spill Footage

After Oil Rig Blast, BP Refused to Share Underwater Spill Footage

During a series of dry-run exercises, where the U.S. Coast Guard, other agencies and oil companies practiced their response to major oil spill disasters, industry executives repeatedly pressed federal regulators to give them more say on what information would be released to the public if disaster struck.

Reports obtained in a joint investigation by ABC News and the Center for Public Integrity show oil companies targeted the potential release of "confidential" information as a key concern.

...

Throughout the clean-up effort, BP has monitored the spill site around the clock using submarine-mounted cameras at the mouth of the spill. An official at Oceaneering International, the company that operates the submarines under a contract with BP, told ABC News he "could walk right down the hall and watch it, but I can't share it without BP's express permission."

Eric Smith, a professor at Tulane University's Energy Institute said that footage could help in making independent assessments of the scope of the spill. But it also could do public relations damage to BP. It has remained closely guarded and cannot be made public under the argument that it is "proprietary," according to Coast Guard officials who have received repeated requests to release the images.

Well. now you know the rest of the story.

I guess this means BP get's to really go it alone.

The article continues:

...government officials told reporters they were trying to persuade the company to be more forthcoming.

Asked if the White House could compel the company to release the video, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Tuesday the decision rests with BP, which controls the tapes.

Does anyone else find it remarkable that a single company gets to call the shots in such a national disaster?

Amazing.




[edit on 12-5-2010 by loam]

This is disgusting. Obama should be ALL OVER BP's ass to release that footage. If there is even a microscopic chance that making the footage publicly available would help to find a solution to cap the spill, it should have been done immediately. BP is making a bad situation worse by doing this.

One photo. They released one photo???

Is a second line even necessary??

Originally posted by tellmemoreok
This is disgusting. Obama should be ALL OVER BP's ass to release that footage. If there is even a microscopic chance that making the footage publicly available would help to find a solution to cap the spill, it should have been done immediately. BP is making a bad situation worse by doing this.

I agree, but he won't. Then he would no longer be able to downplay the spill for BP.

Let's not forget that BP are the number one contributors to him for his election cycle.

He wants to keep good ties with them and he doesn't want to have to explain to people just how bad the spill really is.

Cause it's far worse than what they are saying.

BP should be brought to court under FOIA and made to give over the tapes.

~Keeper

Come on guys, let the free market handle this problem

If only McCain/Palin got into the white house. They would have been tough on big oil companies for sure

Drill baby Drill



Ohhhh..

very simple get an independant sub to photo today. Hell a nite ops recon ranger could handle the photo

my goodness all this time i thought korea was so poor people had to eat other people. they're evil infidels and nobody wants to live there. who knew they have genius scientists and engineer to create these super stealth undetectable subs that can go anywhere it wish. even heavily guarded waters such as south korea and now the US. this is amazing.

NO NO NO NO NO. how stupid do these people think we are? to buy this reverse psychology bullcrap just so the world can starve NK to death. NK never sunk anything, we did. even if they show me a picture of a big korean sub with the NK flag on the side launching a torpedo at all the target they are accused of blowing up i still wouldn't believe it.

some of you will be stupid enough to ask," oh if that was their plan than why are they keeping it a secret?" they're not keeping it a secret, if they were how do you think people know about this? they're only pretending to keep it a secret just so when they do come out with it, it'll confirm what we thought all a long. all of you will be screaming for war, you'll want NK nuked, you'll beat koreans here in the US, you'll boycott their business and cry for war like you did with the WTC incident.

Just found this. Posting it around, so every hopefully takes a look

The Deepwater Horizon Incident Response Center has released a shocking new video of the BP oil pipe leak at its source 5,000 feet down on the ocean floor.

Thick black crude oil that looks like an underwater volcano can be seen pumping uncontrollably into the water:

www.huffingtonpost.com...

This is a disaster in progress.

I have to ask this...is BP a part of a Saudi conglomerate?

I read it somewhere, but I would like confirmation. I checked the web and they have connections to Saudi, but what they are was unclear to me.

I too wonder why every one is "playing nice" with BP. If they have Saudi connections, maybe no one is willing to rock that boat - even tho the gulf is sinking under tar balls.

Seeing this I wonder if a robot would be able to crimp the pipe closed . It would take some serious hydrolic strenth but I think it is possibal.