Posted on 05/31/2010 12:53:10 AM PDT by reagan4palin
As BP makes its latest attempt to plug its gushing oil well, news photographers are complaining that their efforts to document the slow-motion disaster in the Gulf of Mexico are being thwarted by local and federal officials—working with BP—who are blocking access to the sites where the effects of the spill are most visible...
(Excerpt) Read more at newsweek.com ...
I am confused Obama said he was in charge now..
Nope, I don't blame them for keeping the press at arm's length. It is a safety issue.
FOr the same reason, the operator (oil company) has the right to limit access to drilling sites on land as well.
You have to understand BP paid Obama a lot off money to Contirl MMS and several other agencies.
Barrack Petroleum
The liberals are thrilled to have any reason to not publish more photos of 0bama’s 0il Spill.
some folks here would never cut the federal government any slack for doing things like this, but are perfectly willing to excuse a foreign corporation for doing it. We are not talking about the actual site of the blowout. We’re talking about several hundred square miles of coastline and marsh that is not BP’s property and which it has absolutely no legal authority over.
It’s not safety BP is concerned about, it’s bad PR. And it’s shameful that they’re getting away with it, along with all the rest they’re getting away with.
i find it so hard to believe that BS from the media that BP is denying them access to places to photo oil damage. BP don’t own the beaches, they don’t own the sea or the sky. So whats stopping you from going to those places to take photos. Must you ALL go to the same place to take photos
It is also a damages issue for BP. One of their duty is to mitigate the damages. Since the press is out to ruin the summer beach season along the Mississippi-Alabama-Florida Gulf coast, BP has to do what it can to avoid or minimize these damages.
This is not just about drilling sites, this is about BP preventing commercial seaplane services and charter companies from providing services to journalists to fly anywhere in the area. BP does not want us to see the truth about what the Gulf looks like.
It is about control of the press to try and stop additional bad PR about BP.
BP doesn’t own those beaches. They may not like it, but they don’t to dictate who goes there and doesn’t.
Sounds like more of the issue is access to oil-soaked beaches and marshes than drilling rigs, and even though it is Newsweek and Mother Jones reporting it, it sounds like a real issue that Freepers should care about too.
exactly.
^^this
This is not just about drilling sites, this is about BP preventing commercial seaplane services and charter companies from providing services to journalists to fly anywhere in the area. BP does not want us to see the truth about what the Gulf looks like.
While I understand your concern that BP is somehow hiding things, consider the effects of limitless small craft ripping around full of journalists looking for the biggest mess, with boatwakes sloshing oil on the water further into the marshes. Who would be doing the damage then? and who would get that blame?
As for seaplanes and helos flitting about, who is to keep those out of aerial spraying of dispersant? You are talking about an air traffic nightmare, whether it is back and forth around the beaches or the rigs offshore, one accident in a critical place could make a mess of things.
Yes, it is a safety issue. Environmental damage, if it is as permanent and horrible as we are continually told, will not be kept a secret anyway, and in fact will be more pronounced later when green things are brown, etc.
Let get this straight: we have to make sure the public can sees image of caskets (Bush’s War) arriving at Dover Air Force Base, but cannot see pictures of oil (Obama’s Spill) on Louisiana beaches.
Leftists truly suck.
Not really. Many of those folks are true believers re the environment issue.
I do have a problem with this as I live here and want to know what really is going on.
Well, your boat scenario is probable, but what about not allowing them to fly over or get to the beaches?
This tells me the spill is beyond our worst nightmares.
Smokin, I see your point, but there is no reason to stop them from going onto the beaches and filming.
and so far they are doing a pretty good job of it.
No oil on the beach yet in Gulf Shores and Orange Beach, AL. No oil on Perdido Key or Pensacola Beach, FL ( and east ) either. Still I hear of many calls from vacationers to cancel their Summer visits.
The oil may show up and we may have some major problems some time in the future but you can't tell there is a problem by looking at these beaches today.
Many thousands of condos on these beaches are “vacation rental” condos. The Summer season and the 12 weeks of rental incomes from the tourists pay for large parts
of the mortgages for the year. A bad beach season will be really bad for foreclosures.
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