Paint it Black: Oil activism

June 7, 2010

Hey kids, the circus is in town. One day, the Los Angeles Times announces the Gulf gusher is plugged. They got that news from Coast Guard clown Admiral Thad Allen.

The oil didn’t get the message, it kept gushing out of the hole. BP had stopped pumping mud 16 hours previously, but nobody told the government. Even so, 24 hours later, Allen, acting as cheerleader-in-chief, said the same thing, on National TV. Meanwhile, any fool on the Net could see the oil continuing to gush out, if you could find the right camera.

VIDEO, VIDEO – WHO HID THE VIDEO

“I believe that we will respond to this tragedy with technology and transparency. And releasing video of the BP spill is a step in the right direction.

One of the major points that we should take away from this video, is that the 5,000 barrels a day estimate that BP pushed all along – is dead wrong. Today, BP is claiming that they are siphoning off 5,000 barrels a day. But if you look at the video, you can see plumes of oil, spilling into the Gulf, far in excess of 5,000 barrels per day.

These videos stand as a scalding, blistering indictment of BP’s inattention to the scope and size of the greatest environmental catastrophe in the history of the United States.”

– Representative Edward Markey, Democrat from Massachusetts, Chair of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming at http://www.globalwarming.gov/

After the right honorable Edward Markey got BP to release the underwater video, I went to the site at globalwarming.gov to watch. All was well, as robots moved smoothly through clear seas. Except, BP sent the shot from the blowout preventer, instead of the ugly picture from the big spill pipe further on. Rumor put that video on CNN, but I searched their site twice, never finding it. Once I bounced from another site, into CNN page with six cameras going – but alas, I could never find that again.

Finally, it took PBS Newshour to mount what the world wanted to see: is the oil still coming out? The constant eye on the gusher, at http://www.pbs.org/newshour It works with any computer, no software download required. Like millions of others transfixed, I just leave that on a screen, gushing oil into my own studio, minute by minute.

UPDATE: The Select Committee has mounted a page with all 12 ROV videos here:
http://globalwarming.house.gov/spillcam

Download the audio for this episode here.

Alex Smith

Host of syndicated weekly Radio Ecoshock Show - the cutting edge with top scientists, authors and activists. Eighth year on the air as of 2014. Previously a researcher for global environment group, print journalist, homesteader, world-traveler, and private investigator.

Tags: Activism, Deepwater Oil, Fossil Fuels, Industry, Media & Communications, Oil, Politics