BP, Coast Guard & Feds Withheld Videos Showing Massive Scope of Oil Spill

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

ABCNews
New videos show more clearly than ever how BP, with little resistance from the Coast Guard or other federal agencies, kept the public in the dark about just how bad things were beneath the surface of the Gulf of Mexico.

On May 1, 11 days after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded, and nine days after oil began spilling into the Gulf, the Coast Guard had still only released a single image of oil leaking a mile beneath the surface -- a fuzzy photograph of a broken pipe spewing oil.

But inside the unified command center, where BP and federal agencies were orchestrating the spill response, video monitors had already displayed hours of footage they did not make public. The images showed a far more dire situation unfolding underwater. The footage filmed by submarines showed three separate leaks, including one that was unleashing a torrent of oil into the Gulf.

BP officials said they made all the video available to federal officials.

"The video has been available to the unified command from the very beginning," said Mark Proegler, a BP spokesman. "It's always been here from the beginning. They had it."

Coast Guard officials told ABC News that BP refused to allow them to release the more startling images, arguing they were proprietary. But at the time, the agency was doing little to convey to the world what the images were showing. Coast Guard Admiral Mary Landry was sticking with estimates, calculated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which put the spill's size at about 5,000 barrels a day for several weeks. Coast Guard officials said they were focused on the response, and advised the public not to worry about just how much oil was pouring into the water.

"I would caution you not to get fixated on an estimate of how much is out there," said Adm. Landry.

Two days later, as oil continued to spew, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano said much the same thing.

"This fixation on the number of barrels is a little bit misleading," said Napolitano.

BP officials said everyone inside the Unified Command center in Louisiana agreed that the 5,000 barrel figure was the best they could offer.

But Dr. Ian MacDonald, an oceanographer and oil expert at Florida State University said he disagrees, and he remains "baffled and bothered" by the decision to keep under wraps the images that he believes indicated the spill was much bigger.

"We need to know what's coming at us," he told ABC News. "You know, we are Americans, we respond to threats. Don't sugarcoat it. Tell us the truth and we'll do the best we can. And I think that's exactly what didn't happen here. The government, I'm sorry to say has been behind the information curve every step in this process."

Sen. Bill Nelson , a Florida Democrat, said the apparent suppression of the tapes prevented an independent analysis of how much oil was spilling, a move that might eventually save BP millions, since federal fines are based on $1,000 a day per barrel.

The difference between a spill of 5,000 barrels a day and 20,000 barrels a day is $15 million a day. "It clearly tells us why they drug their feet to release these tapes," Nelson said. "I guess they were hoping that they could get it under control and this whole problem would go away."

Researchers: BP and USgovt withholding information about oil spill

Oil and gas stream from the larger of two existing leaks on the riser of the Deepwater Horizon well on May 11. Footage taken by BP Rov on May 11th. This is the main leak that is causing the problem and the natural gas now mixed with the oil as it leaks out is said to be slowing the spillage a bit.

Travis Griggs
Researchers from universities across Florida claim they are being locked out of Gulf oil spill response efforts by BP and state and federal agencies.

Since the April 20 spill, BP and government agencies have hampered their efforts to secure information about the spill and scientific data, such as water oil samples, collected during response efforts, the academics said.

"We're throwing this open for the scientific discourse, and right now, we're not getting a heck of a lot of information about what's going on out there," said Florida State University Associate Vice President for Research W. Ross Ellington. "If we, the scientists, are not getting much information ... we know the public isn't getting information."

On Tuesday, Frank T. Brogan, chancellor of the State University System of Florida, and Ellington visited the University of West Florida to speak with faculty members and discuss difficulties the university has faced while preparing for the oil spill.

"Public access is a problem," Brogan said. "The inability to acquire data from the organizations involved in this can be frustrating."

During their day-long visit, Brogan and Ellington were briefed by university faculty members and researchers, including Richard Snyder, director of the UWF Center for Environmental Diagnostics and Bioremediation.
Shut out of data

Snyder voiced frustration about the difficulties he's faced while trying to get cooperation from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and other agencies monitoring the environmental effects of the spill.

"They won't even tell us where they're sampling, none the less what they're sampling or testing for," Snyder said.

Snyder said he has made multiple attempts to coordinate with official response agencies, including offers to use university equipment and expertise to do water quality samples in the Gulf, but so far, all of his offers have been declined.

Last week, after multiple failed attempts at soliciting information from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, UWF researchers independently set up four water and sand sampling sites on Pensacola Beach.

"We reached the point where we decided we had to do something," Snyder said.

University researchers will maintain the sites for at least 10 weeks, or until they run out of money, Snyder said.
Academic task force

The Florida university system recently created the Oil Spill Academic Task Force — which Ellington called a "clearinghouse" of more than 14 public and private Florida universities that want to take an active role in researching and responding to the oil spill.

"We're not here to set policy. We're not here to say, 'This is what you should do.' We're here to be a resource for the local, federal and state agencies," said Ellington, who is chair of the task force.

Brogan said that by forming the task force, Florida universities can use their collective political and scientific clout to increase the flow of public information and be allowed to contribute to the response process.

"You bring together all that talent and genius and all those resources and it's difficult to be denied a seat at the table," Brogan said. "By organizing, it's our hope that we can make a difference in this spill and the aftermath by creating one loud voice."

UWF at 'ground zero'

Brogan, who served as the lieutenant governor of Florida from 1999 to 2003, said he planned to use political channels to help get researchers access to data and other information about the oil spill response process.

"This whole thing strings on data at the end of the day. Without the data, we don't know how to deal with the spill. We don't know where it's going. We don't know the potential volatility it has when it makes landfall. We don't understand what the air quality, the water quality, the quality of marine life is," Brogan said.

Snyder said in addition to providing expertise, independent academic involvement would provide objective analysis and validation of BP and government research.

"If BP comes out with a study or the EPA or NOAA come out with a study, there's a bowl of scientists here to look at the report and provide the State of Florida with an objective evaluation," Snyder said.

University President Judy Bense accompanied Brogan during his visit and said it was reassuring to know UWF concerns are being heard in Tallahassee.

"By seeing the chancellor coming here ... he's telling me he's got my back, and I'm telling him that I need my back covered," Bense said.

Bense said the university has offered up researchers, facilities, housing, and other resources, and is prepared to aid in oil spill research and response efforts in any way it can.

After visiting one of the university's water sampling locations on Pensacola Beach Tuesday, Brogan said UWF is positioned to play a key role in oil spill recovery and research efforts.

"They're the javelin tip on this thing. They're not only looking into the issue ... they're on the ground at ground zero," Brogan said.

We'll never know how much oil is leaking into The Gulf of Mexico

Image by Toban Black via Flickr

Kathlyn Stone
Honestly, how much oil is leaking into the Gulf?

We don’t have a clue.

For two weeks oil has been leaking into the Gulf of Mexico from the BP (“Beyond Petroleum,” formerly British Petroleum) offshore well following an oil rig explosion.

The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) experts estimate that 5,000 barrels a day of oil are spilling into the gulf, up from officials’ initial estimates of 1,000 barrels.

Independent experts such as Ian D. MacDonald, an oceanography professor at Florida State University, suggest the leak volume could be 25,000 barrels a day, much higher than official estimates.

But the truth may be more than what those responsible want us to hear. BP believes the leak could be as high as 60,000 barrels a day, according to a New York Times report on what a BP executive told Congress members at a closed-door briefing this week.

PBS NewHour created a meter showing how much oil may have leaked into the Gulf based on each estimate. Go ahead and enter your figure. It's anyone's guess.

Oceanography professor: oil spill already greater than Exxon Valdez

washingtonpost.com
No one is sure how much oil is leaking. The Coast Guard initially said there was no leak, then said there was a leak of 1,000 barrels a day, then upped the estimate to 5,000 barrels. Adm. Thad W. Allen, the leader of the federal response and commandant of the Coast Guard, has cautioned against putting too much credence in any estimate.

Ian MacDonald, a professor of oceanography at Florida State University, has calculated the amount of oil based on satellite imagery and established models of oil dispersion and believes that the quantity is already greater than that dumped in Alaska by the Exxon Valdez in 1989. He estimated last week that 9 million gallons of oil are already in the water, compared with 10.8 million gallons in the Valdez disaster.

But he acknowledged that the real amount could be different. In any case, he said, the comparison to the Valdez spill is misguided, because the coastal gulf is far more economically significant than the sparsely populated coast of Alaska. More...