Evidence Refutes BP’s and Fed’s “Deceptions”

Scientists think about half the oil from the BP leak is still in the water or sunk to the ocean floor.  A recent report found that the Obama administration probably downplayed or hid the amount of oil leaking from the well from the public, from the start of the leak.  Then shortly after the well was capped by BP, the government made the incredible claim that the most of the oil was “gone”, which defied all logic and common sense.  It was also factually untrue, and it’s still not really clear why the government was attempting to lie to people about this.

by: Dahr Jamail and Erika Blumenfeld, t r u t h o u t | Report

Photo: Erika Blumenfeld

“In August, Truthout conducted soil and water sampling in Pass Christian Harbor, Mississippi; on Grand Isle, Louisiana; and around barrier islands off the coast of Louisiana, in order to test for the presence of oil from BP’s Macondo Well.

Laboratory test results from the samples taken in these areas show extremely high concentrations of oil in both the soil and water.

These results contradict consistent claims made by the federal government and BP since early August that much of the Gulf of Mexico is now free of oil and safe for fishing and recreational use.

The samples taken were tested in a private laboratory via gas chromatography.

The environmental analyst who worked with this writer did so on condition of anonymity and performed a micro extraction that tests for total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH). The lower reporting limit the analyst is able to detect from a solid sample is 50 parts per million (ppm).

Just two examples of many from the article:

“A water sample from inside Pass Christian Harbor, Mississippi, taken on August 13, contained 611 ppm of TPH. Seawater that is free of oil would test at zero ppm of TPH.

A soil sample containing tar balls from the beach on Grand Isle, Louisiana, taken on August 16, contained 39,364 ppm of TPH.”

The oil is not gone. It’s still where BP put it — in the water and on the shore.  More on the “cover up” from The Hill:

The head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is reaching out to the presidential oil spill commission to clarify what the White House calls misleading claims about the federal response to the disaster.

“NOAA Administrator Dr. [Jane] Lubchenco will send a letter today to the commission ensuring that they have an adequate understanding of what was happening in that process at that time,” White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Thursday.

The letter to the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling follows Wednesday’s release of draft findings by the commission staff about the White House spill response.

The staff report suggests that the White House may have blocked public disclosure of worst-case discharge scenarios from BP’s [...]