When you insult scientists who have built their entire career with passionate curiosity and ethical research, and on top of that, attempt to shush them, there is bound to be some backlash. When our own country tries to quiet ethical research that may reflect negatively on the current government spin on the oil in the Gulf of Mexico, you get a lot of scientists ready to shout their findings from the rooftops, as it should be. The St Petersburg Times reporter Craig Pittman reported on this on August 10th.
“I got lambasted by the Coast Guard and NOAA when we said there was undersea oil,”
This, from USF marine sciences dean William Hogarth. Some officials even told him to retract USF’s public announcement, he said, comparing it to being “beat up” by federal officials.
When the Whitehouse decided to paint an overly optimistic picture of the gulf oil scenario, they backed it up by a research paper written by NOAA’s Senior Scientist Bill Lehr, who stated that the majority of the oil had been captured or broken down. Scientists from prestigious institutions who had conducted their own university based research, did not take it lying down. They demanded (along with congress) to see the raw data used in this report, however NOAA never responded to these requests. Instead faced with this outrage on numerous fronts, Bill Lehr recanted while under oath and testifying before congress, admitting that about 75 percent of the oil remained unaccounted for.
“That report was not science,” said Ian MacDonald, an ocean scientist at Florida State University who has studied the Gulf for 30 years. He accused the White House of making “sweeping and largely unsupported” claims that three-quarters of the oil in the Gulf was gone.
“I believe this report is misleading,” he said. “The imprint will be there in the Gulf of Mexico for the rest of my life. It is not gone and it will not go away quickly.”
Experts from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute mapped a 22-mile plume of oil droplets from BP’s well, providing the strong evidence that NOAA was sadly mistaken or misguided (?)
According to the Woods Hole findings, the deep water plume about the length of Manhattan – 1.2 miles wide and 650ft high. It noted that the plume was not made up of pure oil but included toxic oil compounds including benzene and xylene.
The Woods Hole effort reinforces earlier reports from research voyages by scientists from the University of Georgia and Texas A&M University who detected the presence of deepwater plumes of oil.
This week, University of South Florida scientists reported oil in amounts that were toxic to critical plankton on the ocean floor far east of the spill. Those findings have not been reviewed by other scientists.
Bill Lehr’s testimony yesterday at least convinces me that he may have some integrity left by recanting the details in his obviously skewed report, and thank God for congress forcing his hand. What if he hadn’t been in the hot seat? Would he have recanted then? NOAA Chief Jane Lubchenco who is also an ocean scientist has played down first reports of oil in ocean depths.
JANE LUBCHENCO: We believe those numbers remain to be the best numbers that are out there. We will continue to monitor very aggressively and to implement the directive that Admiral Allen issued last Friday to initiate a very — a blitzkrieg monitoring in the Gulf. (JUST NOT BY UNIVERSITY SCIENTISTS, caps mine)
This is the CHIEF of OUR national agency that oversees our oceans? Really builds confidence doesn’t it? There is a big problem with a scientist who can make such a claim, faced with the unprecedented quantity of oil leaked into OUR Gulf or Mexico. She needs to be dismissed, because she is not looking out for our interest, that’s for sure. You would think this would be a time of MAJOR collaboration between scientists government and non government. Instead there is shushing going on! OH hell no!!! don’t tell them there a plumes! We want people to think its okay!
Where are OUR rovers? We shouldn’t wondering if BP is showing us what we need to see. We shouldn’t be wondering if there are 2 wells, We shouldn’t wondering how bad the sea floor is leaking. WE SHOULD KNOW! We should have our own NOAA rovers down there and we should be able to see for ourselves what is going on. Why isn’t this happening? Why isn’t this in our best interest to know?
Its not okay and it is sickening on so many levels. Why spin ANYTHING? Who is being protected? BP? The White House? The “people?” WHY? Why doesn’t NOAA have their own damn Rovers down there, or I should day OUR own rovers down there? Why should we be held hostage to what BP decides to show us? Why isn’t our government massively concerned that BP might be LYING to us. Why does Admiral Thad Allen use the “WE” word constantly as if he’s on BP’s payroll? It’s THEM, Admiral Allen! THEY, Admiral Allen>>>>you know, BP! They aren’t “WE”!
We deserve the truth not whitewashed SPIN. WE don’t want our independent researchers and scientists muzzled! We want the truth! This is the most transparent coverup imaginable and its going to hurt the confidence levels of everyone who is following this ridiculous excuse for handling the biggest environmental disaster ever, in our country’s history.
