USF says government tried to squelch their oil plume findings

[Poboy]

By Craig Pittman, Times Staff Writer
In Print: Tuesday, August 10, 2010

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 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."


====

FULL-
http://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/article1114225.ece

[madfloridian]

1. USF has done great research on this.

It has been fascinating to watch them on local TV. Kathy Castor helped them with getting some responses from BP.

I trust that team far more than anything a government spokesperson says.

[LaurenG]

2. Why are they being gagged?

What reason does the gov have to shut down the truth. :mad: fuck

[spin]

4. Some people think that the people we elect are bought and owned ...

by the big multinational corporations.

I used to think of this is a tinfoil hat theory. Now I'm not so sure. I am certain that our news media needs to thoroughly investigate this story and find out the truth and (if the story is accurate) why our leaders failed us so badly. The problem is that the media may also be bought and paid for by the same corporations.

This is something that I would expect from a Republican administration.

[Kalyke]

33. There's no "may" to it. I am a former reporter - I can tell you

with industry experience - that the media IS bought and paid for.

Most major media is owned by the big media conglomerates Viacom, CBS Corporation, Time Warner, News Corp, General Electric, The Walt Disney Company and the Hearst Corporation. As of 2010, The Walt Disney Company is the world's largest media conglomerate, with News Corp., Time Warner and Viacom ranking second, third and fourth, respectively.

Of course most of that is television.

Shall we move to radio?

Far more media companies own radio, but it's still fairly limited when you consider how many radio stations there are in this country. Here's a sample (I mostly excluded radio networks with a musical or sports theme - not much news comes out of them - they usually partner with one of the following to provide drive-time news): ABC Radio (now owned by Citadel Broadcasting), Associated Press Radio Network, Bloomberg Business News Radio Network, Clear Channel Communications, CNN Radio Network (owned by Time Warner), Dial Global and Jones Radio Network (now owned by Triton Media Group), Fox News Radio, a slew of religious radio networks, NBC, Northern Broadcasting, Premiere Radio Networks (subsidiary of Clear Channel), Progressive Radio Network, Radio America, Talk Radio Network, USA Radio Network and the biggies:

Westwood One Radio Networks, managed by CBS Radio, operates the following radio networks:
o CNN Max Radio Network
o Source Max Radio Network
o CBS Radio Network
o NBC Radio Network
o NeXt Radio Network
o WONE Radio Network
o BLAISE (Metro News Ten Second Network)
o Navigator (Metro Entertainment Ten Second Network)

Disney operates the following radio networks:
o ESPN Radio
o Radio Disney

Only United Stations Radio Networks remains outside the corporate realm in any substantial fashion. This New York-based company was founded in 1994 by radio pioneers Dick Clark and Nick Verbitsky and remains the country's largest independently owned and operated syndicated radio network.

We could go onto the newspapers, but most of them have been bought for spicket cash by some big corporation then liquidated for the profit.

[spin]

35. Interesting and revealing. Thanks ...

That explains why so many important stories are ignored.

[Poboy]

3. DOJ gags scientists studying BP disaster.

DOJ gags scientists studying BP disaster.
By Brad Johnson on Aug 10th, 2010 at 10:01 pm


In an explosive first-hand account, ecosystem biologist Linda Hooper-Bui describes how Obama administration and BP lawyers are making independent scientific analysis of the Gulf region an impossibility. Hooper-Bui has found that only scientists who are part of the Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) process to determine BP’s civil liability get full access to contaminated sites and research data. Pete Tuttle, USFWS environmental contaminant specialist and Department of Interior NRDA coordinator, admitted to The Scientist that “researchers wishing to formally participate in NRDA must sign a contract that includes a confidentiality agreement” that “prevents signees from releasing information from studies and findings until authorized by the Department of Justice at some later and unspecified date.” Hooper-Bui writes:

---

Link-
http://thinkprogress.org/2010/08/10/scientists-bp-gag/

[Cetacea]

5. Are those nutty conspiracy theory scientists at it again?

:sarcasm:




I think some apologies are in order...

[Subdivisions]

8. I do too. And I should be a recipient as I didn't believe that NOAA WH

presser from the moment those assholes opened their mouths and I was excoriated for it here and called a liar. I have NEVER lied on this board. EVER.

[Forkboy]

6. They just want President Palin.

[Subdivisions]

7. Of course there's undersea oil. That is where it has GONE to. n/t

[WillyT]

9. And Gibbs Wonders Why We're So Angry

Hey Gibby... wanna put forth an opinion here???

:shrug:

[Curmudgeoness]

10. I think we should all be grateful to the scientists at USF

for coming out with the truth, sticking by it under pressure, and telling us about the conspiracy to shut them up.

:tinfoilhat:

[Poboy]

11. Watch for their funding to be pulled.

It happened ay LSU.

And remember the LSU professor who blew the whistle on the Army Corps. of Engineers after Katrina?
Yep-

Dr. van Heerden is a hero and LSU fired him for it. WATCH THE VIDEO

The former deputy director of Louisiana State University is suing the flagship university for wrongful dismissal. Dr. van Heerden says the US Army Corps of Engineers urged LSU to fire him for his criticism he leveled at the Corps after its levee system failed in August 2005.
LSU feared that federal funding was put in jeopardy so they fired him, says van Heerden. (LSU receives large federal grants from the Corps.)


Link-
: http://levees.org/2010/05/27/dr-van-heerden-is-a-hero-and-lsu-fired-him-for-it-watch-the-video/#ixzz0wRVTXdvK

[Curmudgeoness]

12. Well, shit. But that is even more reason to call them heroes.

They have to know they are putting everything on the line.

:woohoo:

[Cetacea]

13. BP has the computer

"Meanwhile it appears most of the data assembled about amongst other things the location of beaching oil, the resulting damage and how many dead animals are found by American government services such as the Coast Guard and The US Fish and Wildlife Service, is directly deposited on a BP server. The National Incident Management System (NIMS) is setup like that apparently. The information is behind a BP firewall, and once it is sent there it legally becomes the property of BP. In reality, this means BP has total control over about all information collected about the gravity of the disaster."

http://www.demorgen.be/dm/nl/5397/Milieu/article/detail/1121173/2010/06/19/116-van-s-werelds-zeldzaamste-schildpadden-teruggezet-in-de-olie.dhtml

[Cetacea]

32. Late edit

I have not found any other sources for the story linked in the post above. However I do believe it's true.

[amborin]

14. K & R

[HCE SuiGeneris]

15. Gov't, and their corporate handlers Vs. The People

Reeks of Fascism to me...

[me b zola]

16. K&R

[amborin]

17. the gov't has been suppressing ind scientific inquiry since this started....

[pitohui]

18. no they haven't but don't let facts get in your way

this is politics in florida for whatever reason i can't understand they have always felt the oil should not be drilled, let's kill soldiers in the middle east and take their oil instead, after all, our voters are too old to fight in wars

in louisiana we have a different opinion, and we're actually the scene of the "crime" and have the most to lose if we let people get by w. lies...

i have never seen a disaster handled this well, this openly, w. this much $ provided for victims

ever

if florida doesn't like it that louisiana gets a few bucks you know what? they can go to you-know

[Poboy]

19. What an odd post.

Your actually saying people here trust the government and BP?
Actually crowing about how well its been handled? Openly? Compensation?

Hilarious.

[pitohui]

20. you know the phrase "trust but verify?" from saint (eyesroll) reagan?

the thing is here we don't have to trust, we can verify

we can see if the oil is on the beach or not, we can see if we're getting compensation or not

i'm sorry if florida hasn't got all they want, but they weren't the victims, and they don't fucking drill for oil, and they basically do fuck all except show up with hat in hand to say, "oh you're giving half a billion dollars to lsu? well why don't you pay US off?"

if florida ever got off their ass and drilled for oil, it would be diff, but they want to do fuck all AND they are mad that we're getting the compensation because we're the ones who took the risks and had to suffer the disaster

i'm fucking sick of florida with its hand out, a rich state hustling a poor one

what's odd about that?

whenever money is being given out, rich people try to push out the poor ones, well, fuck you, florida, louisiana took the risk, louisiana suffered the damage, and we're entitled to most of the pay off and i'm tired of florida even trying to pretend this affects them...it's abt $ and about a rich state w. political clout trying to take what's ours

this post refers to a uni in florida trying to get what's being given to lsu, even tho we in louisiana and engineers/profs/studies at lsu have long supported the industry, while florida has done fuck-all...sorry but every scammer in florida you pay off is a real person in louisiana who doesn't get paid off

we drilled the oil, florida didn't, yet they want a cut, they can go to hell in my humble view sorry

nobody hid the fact that there were oil plumes, that's just a damn fucking lie straight up told to try to grab what's ours and send it to florida to shut up extortionists

[Forkboy]

21. Wow.

:rofl:

[Poboy]

23. Dude, please see someone 'professional'. Left or otherwise.

[Subdivisions]

31. And find the Shift keys...jeez. n/t

[JoeyT]

24. Actually by the "We took the risk" argument

Florida should be getting more than Louisiana. After all, Louisiana got the short term benefit of jobs that Florida didn't get from it, and their risk fucked up Florida's coast.

Of course I don't buy into the "We took the risk" argument, so I think BP should pay for all the damage it did to everyone on the Gulf Coast.

[maryf]

27. +1 According to the "we took the risk" argument

Florida should sue Louisiana because Louisiana "took a risk" that didn't take the consequences of other states under consideration...:sarcasm:

It's BP and the oil industry at fault here...sheeesh...

[BeFree]

29. Eh? You wrote:

"..nobody hid the fact that there were oil plumes, that's just a damn fucking lie straight up.."

Are you a liar or just stupid? The head of BP stated there were no oil plumes.

So your statement is either stupid as hell or a lie. Which is it?

[Subdivisions]

30. MEOW! n/t

[amborin]

22. it's been a huge coverup from the get-go; here's jus tone link documenting this:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=8888968&mesg_id=8888968

[Poboy]

25. Louisiana authorities report oil sightings from Gulf of Mexico spill

Louisiana authorities report oil sightings from Gulf of Mexico spill
Published: Thursday, August 12, 2010, 5:38 PM

Here is a list, released by Louisiana emergency officials, of areas where oil was sighted Thursday. The list is not a comprehensive tally of areas affected by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

St Bernard Parish
Dark brown substance, 50 feet by 25 feet, in an unnamed marsh island in Lake Fortuna 0.4 mile north-northeast of Point Gardner.

Plaquemines Parish
Oil sheen in Pass Abel 1 mile N of the E end of Isle Grande Terre.
Oil sheen in Lake Grand Ecaille 1.46 miles W of Rattlesnake Bayou.
Oil patch, 20 feet by 10 feet, in an unnamed marsh island in Black Bay a half mile north-northwest of Grassy Point.

Jefferson Parish
Oil sheen in Bayou Saint Denis 0.54 mile southwest of the south entrance to Bayou Cutler.

Lafourche Parish
Three very small pools of oil on the east bank of Bell Pass 0.7 mile north of the mouth.

---
http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/08/louisiana_authorities_report_o_24.html

[maryf]

26. Thanks Poboy

keep the truth coming, K&R

[Poboy]

28. Will do.

I am somewhat new here, but when i first joined, there were a lot of people who lived on the coast that posted.
Many even from N.O. -I wonder where they all have gone.

[maryf]

34. Hope they will make out ok...

hope they aren't depending on BP to make it right, wish they could...welcome to du...