Scientists Say Feds Tried To Coverup BP Gulf Oil Spill Plumes; Feds Took Data And Told Scientists To Shut Up
Posted by Alexander Higgins - August 10, 2010 at 11:57 am - Permalink - Source via Alexander Higgins Blog
Loading ...A shocking article on the St. Petersburg Times reveals that federal government agencies tried to coverup the discovery of massive plumes of underwater oil found by independent scientists.
The scientists say the federal government took their data about the oil plumes and told them to shut up.
When the scientist went public with their findings they say they were discredited by the government and pressured to redact their findings.
The accusations come from several universities including professors from the University of Southern Mississippi and the University of South Florida and follow similar charges of a cover up lodged against NOAA by Discovery earth.
The scientist say when they first reported their scientists to the Coast Guard and NOAA they were told to “shut up”.
A month after the Deepwater Horizon disaster began, scientists from the University of South Florida made a startling announcement. They had found signs that the oil spewing from the well had formed a 6-mile-wide plume snaking along in the deepest recesses of the gulf.
The reaction that USF announcement received from the Coast Guard and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the federal agencies that sponsored their research:
Shut up.
“I got lambasted by the Coast Guard and NOAA when we said there was undersea oil,” USF marine sciences dean William Hogarth said. Some officials even told him to retract USF’s public announcement, he said, comparing it to being “beat up” by federal officials.
The scientists said that instead of the Government responding positively the Government tried to discredit their findings and pressured them to redact their findings.
The USF scientists weren’t alone. Vernon Asper, an oceanographer at the University of Southern Mississippi, was part of a similar effort that met with a similar reaction. “We expected that NOAA would be pleased because we found something very, very interesting,” Asper said. “NOAA instead responded by trying to discredit us. It was just a shock to us.”
NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco, in comments she made to reporters in May, expressed strong skepticism about the existence of undersea oil plumes — as did BP’s then-CEO, Tony Hayward.
“She basically called us inept idiots,” Asper said. “We took that very personally.”
Ironically, while BP and NOAA denied the existence of underwater plumes of oil both the federal government and BP participated in a multi-year study which found underwater plumes of oil and methane were created by deepwater spills.
NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco responded to the claims from the scientists by claiming the Federal Government wanted to make sure the plumes existed before they speculated about the findings.
“We had solid evidence, rock solid,” Asper said fired back at Lubchenco’s justifications for trying to silence the findings. “We weren’t speculating.” If he had to do it over again, he said, he’d do it all exactly the same way, despite Lubchenco’s ire.”
Hogarth also goes onto to attack the Federal Government for basically stealing their research data and not even sharing the findings with the teams who first discovered and mapped the underwater plumes of oil.
USF’s first NOAA-sponsored voyage to take samples after Deepwater Horizon, the one that turned up evidence of the undersea plumes, was designed to gather evidence for use in an eventual court case against BP and other oil companies involved in the disaster. At the end of the voyage, USF turned its samples over to NOAA, expecting to get either a shared analysis or the samples themselves back. So far, Hogarth said, they’ve received neither.
NOAA’s top oil spill scientist, Steve Murawski, said Monday that he was “sure we will release the data” at some point. However, he said, because NOAA has collected so many samples over the past three months, when it comes to the samples from USF’s trip in May, “I’m not sure where they are.”
It should also be noted that while the government is not sharing oil spill data with the public or independent scientists but immediately turns over all data to BP.
The federal government is also currently under attack by many independent scientists who say that the government report last week saying that most of the oil is gone from the Gulf.
Lubchenco’s agency came under fire last week for a new report that said “the vast majority” of the oil from Deepwater Horizon had been taken care of. Scientists who read the report closely said it actually said half the oil was still unaccounted for.
Lubchenco said anyone who read the report as saying the oil was gone read it wrong.
“Out of sight and diluted does not mean benign,” she said.
The Feds still claim they can’t find any oil but satellite photos shows the BP Gulf Oil Spill covering over 12,000 square miles of water.
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[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by John Ito, Alexander Higgins. Alexander Higgins said: Scientists Say Feds Tried To Coverup BP Gulf Oil Spill Plumes; Feds Took Data And Told Scientists To Shut Up http://bit.ly/c8O5DP [...]
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[...] the rest of this great post here Comments (0) Posted in BP News [...]
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What a world we live in, 2012 can't come fast enough!!
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Mystic NJ, what good news is there for Alex to spread? Please tell me.
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Mystic, could you please stop posting your magical stuff and go back to facts? What Alex does is live media coverage. We are seeing a historical event unfolding right before our eyes. The political corruption and slandering of scientists have been tolerated long enough. If the mass media doesn't cover it appropriately then it's time for the internet to take over! The people have a right to be correctly informed about the problems. It helps nobody if everyone is in denial while huge plumes of oil and methane leak is rising from the sea floor, poisoning the fish.
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Cover ups & scandals.
Yeah, it is getting a little stale.
None the less, I must applaud Mister Higgins for his hard compilation Work.
If I didn’t appreciate his ‘hard work’
I would not be participating here……
~
I have to agree with you there Jason.
But then again….
If we believe the end is 2012.
We could accidentally make it happen.
(Thus you are warned.)
~
Anything NEW and/or POSITIVE happening Mister Higgins?
>>> ?Can’t you find ONE good thing that our government has done right?
(The headstart educational program and welfare to work programs were wonderful achievements.)
~
Yes yes shock and horror do attract
However my friend Alex,
I think you underestimate your own research skills in reguards to: How to help the people through crisis.
VS
Scaring already distressed people even more.
I feel, it is part of your job to find good stuff for people to think about also.
_Balance carefuly or you’re gonna be seen as one-sided._
I feel you do not yet recognize how influential you can be, for good causes also.
Don’t underestimate yourself Alex!
You could do a lot of ‘good things’ also.
You have all the power you need.
You can use it for bad or good.
Your choice my friend.
~Peace out, The Mystic NJ
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So what else is new? this is the way of politics.
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Thank you Mr Higgins for your hard work. This is excellent material, and I plan to direct as many people possible to this and other stories found at your blog.
And I believe that what you are doing here is for the greater good. Without public scrutiny, the government will, already has run amok. It simply becomes exclusively, a bureaucracy that exists for its own sake without answering to or serving The People for which it was constructed.
Without your scrutiny in these matters, there would be one more blind spot that BP could utilize to poison our people and destroy our ecosystem, all for the sake of some money. Who cares about money when you have been made infertile, or given cancer or some other chronic condition that detracts from your length of life and your quality of life.
Sure, this material is scary. But no one said that when we grew up, that the world would make it easy for us, or that we would never have to deal with scary.
Don’t listen to the BS. Just keep on Keepen On!
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[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Kelly Kat Phillips, Chris Cocchi. Chris Cocchi said: Scientists Say Feds Tried To Coverup BP Gulf Oil Spill Plumes; Feds Took Data An[..] – http://b2l.me/agcfe9 [...]
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Oh, it'll show, in their next grant $$$! Yet, it is a little refreshing, when a State University, is in cahoots with the 'hidden hand'….
Yet, the 'hidden hand', won't be able to 'bully anyone around, this time'. As
"their $$$", won't be around, much longer,
anyway's!!!! (Cancer Cures Anyones? Now's the time!)
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Like his nose, Obummer's credibility Gulfs; Persian and Mexican, just keep metastasizing!
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As one who knows how the research community actually works, I find it pure b.s. that not a single one of these professors hasn't had their data backed up somwhere, off site. Good grief! Any lowly undergrad could do it! ' The big bad government has all of our data, and won't give it back!' indeed.
Now if the big bad government threatened to cut off funding, to a particualr university and their pet programs, that carries some weight, but again it's not very likely they would even threaten to do so.
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It’s nice to see people participating with the others that comment here.
Heather on the Gulf
++ That is a very good question!
I could go on with long rant about all the good things we have to look at other then fear and frustration.
{Like the fact that, our gov provides free food programs, free medical insurance and virtually free housing for poor people.}
However, this is Alex’s blog and he is the star here.
Alex certainly has an excellent set of skills to present (so called) tangible evidence.
Where as, I have a more Shamanistic approach with what the spirits tell me.
{People are afraid to believe in the sprit world and some want to oppress a Shawman’s talent.}
~
Silverado….
What Ales does here is most certainly worth my time to read, absorb and comment on.
He has my attention and I feed here daily.
I have the right of freedom of speech the same as you do.
I don’t appreciate your discrimination and scrutiny of my religion.
How about we meet in the middle Silverado?
I will go on with my Shamanistic perspectives.
And you can use your strengths to try and stop the internet take over.
{Which from my perspective will be a futile effort.}
Silver, I don’t sense people are in denial.
Everyone on the planet is upset at this major catastrophe.
Some of us are wise and know the difference between what we can change and cannot.
Accepting the things we cannot change, does bring a state of contentment to many.
Many cannot do anything about the upcoming explosions nor sicknesses that will kill millions.
But many can achieve contentment and appreciation for what we do have left too enjoy, while we can.
~}
{In this short-life anyway
~
~
I feel ya Sister Bluebird
And so well put!
“Don’t listen to the BS, Just keep keeping on!”
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/riki-ott/seafood-safety-and-politi_b_678813.html
Dr. Ott exposes the lies once again.
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This really bugs! Our government has agencies that are tapping our phones, reading our emails, and probably in some cases know the brand of toilet paper we buy if we shop at Walmart and/ or use one of those store discount card at the grocery. Now they want the public to believe that “…because NOAA has collected so many samples over the past three months, when it comes to the samples from USF’s trip in May, “I’m not sure where they are.”
Well, if it seems to good to be true, or flat out unbelievable, it probably is! I have always been told I am to trusting and when I say ” no way”, then something IS definitely wrong.
Does anyone yet realize we “the little people” have NO CONTROL over the government??? One you punch their ticket for the lunch line, they eat not only their lunch, but ours too! Every time I hear ” take back America” and ” the bill of rights”, or ” according to the constitution” I get sick. All of it has been eroded year after year by our elected officials. Some of it was out in the open, some of it while we slept, but most of the ” leg we had to stand on” IS GONE…
Shake you head no…I understand, but not long from now, this country is going to be a third world country and then it will have to be believed.
Does anyone know about how the Drug Cartel in Mexico has been stealing Mexico’s oil for years. So much so the country may collapse?
http://blogs.uncommonwisdomdaily.com/red-hot-energy-and-gold/more-on-the-collapse-of-mexico/
I am just sick, sick sick…but I hang tight to my faith that in the end, all things will work to our good, because I love God. Somedays…it’s just plain hard to have hope…period.
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[...] mind that fact that scientists reported that the Feds confiscated the data of the underwater plumes and told the scientists to shut up about their [...]
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