Source:
McClatchyToby Odone, a BP spokesman, said the company is sharing the data with "legitimate interested parties," which include government agencies and the private companies assisting in the cleanup. When asked whether the information can be released publicly, he responded, "Why would one do it? Any parties with a legitimate interest can have access to it."
Joseph T. Hughes Jr., the director of the worker education training program for the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, said he didn't think "anyone has seen much of that data at all."
"The hard part about it is that in a normal response, when the government is doing this, there might be more transparency on the data," Hughes said. "In this case, when you have BP making the decisions and collecting the data it's harder to have that transparency."
Unlike the response to other past national disasters such as Hurricane Katrina where the government was in charge, BP has been designated as the "responsible party" under federal law and is overseeing much of the response to the spill. The government is acting more as an adviser.
Read more:
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/05/18/94415/bps-secrecy-keep-facts-on-gulf.html
Mr. Obama - how much oil is spewing from the pipes? You've had a month to tell us. You are supposed to be a smart man. You have surrounded yourself with smart men and women. As the leader of our country, your obligation to keep the American people informed about this catastrophe is paramount.
This is the clearest signal yet about how you believe government should act in a crisis. While BP is killing the gulf, you remain distant, aloof, politically correct - afraid of being caught up in the unpleasantness. Short of a few rhetorical words of unhappiness, you've engaged your blow out preventor and you have walked away.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/18/gulf-oil-spill-government_n_580815.htmlYou've turned your back on this affair, like Wall Street's disaster, you publicly scolded a few fat cats and walked away from the mess. Mr President you talk too much. Way too much. You don't walk the walk. You walk away.
Put our multi-billion dollar inventory of equipment, scientists and intellectual property to work and tell us how much oil is leaking. Tell us the types and volume of chemicals being used to break up the oil. Tell us the risks and plans for clean up.
This isn't an intellectual exercise or chess game. People are suffering, the environment is suffering. This disaster proves my instincts about you as commander-in-chief are correct. You have clearly demonstrated to me that you are not worthy of the position. We need leadership, not cheap fancy talk.
- Our spending and in Afghanistan exceeding the peak of Iraq. 100,000 troops, 100,000 private contractors.
- Insurance regulations have been written by insurance companies.
- Wall Street regulations are being written by investment banks.
- BP is in total control of a catastrophe that is crippling public municipalities in four states.
You are keeping your hands clean, determined to show that corporations can run government and war better than its citizenry. You are doing this regardless of the financial, human and environmental costs.
Bravo on your political survival instincts, Mr. President. Too bad for the Gulf. Too bad for dead Afghans, Iraqis and dead US soldiers. Too bad for stolen pension plans and families facing bankruptcy for lack of work. Too bad for laid-off workers whose jobs are sent to low skill workers in India and China where labor is unregulated. And too bad for those of us who still cannot afford proper care, even as Wall Street gets richer on health reform.
And ultimately, too bad for the East Coast and the Arctic. After Valdez and Deep Horizon, it's now their turn to bathe in the profits of big oil.
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