'Just Not True': White House Accused of Spinning Report

[G_j]

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/08/06-3

Published on Friday, August 6, 2010 by the Guardian/UK

'Just Not True': White House Accused of Spinning Report

Scientists say it is 'just not true' that the vast majority of oil from the BP spill has gone

by Suzanne Goldenberg

The White House was accused today of spinning a government scientific report into the amount of oil left in the Gulf of Mexico from the BP spill which had officials declaring that the vast majority of the oil had been removed.

<snip>

"Recent reports seem to say that about 75% of the oil is taken care of and that is just not true," said John Kessler, of Texas A&M University, who led a National Science Foundation on-site study of the spill. "The fact is that 50% to 75% of the material that came out of the well is still in the water. It's just in a dissolved or dispersed form."

<snip>

In Louisiana, state wildlife officials told CNN that tar balls and patches of oil were still washing up in the marshes and coastal areas of St Bernard, Plaquemines and Jefferson parishes.

Susan Shaw, a marine toxicologist and director of the Marine Environmental Research Institute, said the White House had been too quick to declare the oil was gone. "The blanket statement that the public understood is that most of the oil has disappeared. That is not true. About 50% of it is still in the water," she said.

Like other scientists, she said the report failed to explain how it reached its estimates on the amount of oil that was biodegraded naturally, or dispersed with chemicals. "There are a lot of unanswered questions."


..more..

[sandnsea]

1. The media used the word "disappeared"

Not the White House. The White House used the term "dispersed", just like Kessler did. It wouldn't be Kessler's fault if the media misconstrued his words.

[G_j]

7. "the White House had stepped on more nuanced statements from NOAA"

Francesca Griffo, senior scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the White House had stepped on more nuanced statements from NOAA scientists. "When these reports go through the spin machine they get distorted," she said. "If you look closely at this report, it makes it very clear that this is not over."

[sandnsea]

10. The White House made it clear it wasn't over

Obama himself said there was a long recovery ahead. Why aren't you pissed that the media doesn't do a proper job of reporting?

[G_j]

11. I am perpetually pissed that the media aren't doing a proper job

& unfortunately the EPA has a shitty track record too.

[Johonny]

13. +1

[Lint Head]

2. Dispersed means the poison oil is still there. You can dissolve

a poison in water and it is invisible but it is still a poison.

There will be health issues with people returning to the Gulf and eating the seafood. After some disease manifests itself
years later there will be a denial issued by the powers that be to say it is unrelated to the BP catastrophe.

This scenario has played out over and over again through out history. Agent Orange, PTSD just to mention a couple.

[Schema Thing]

12. yeah, "dispersed" does not mean "disappeared"

I wonder why the phrase "WH says the oil has just disappeared" keeps getting thrown around.




oh wait, I know why.

[nashville_brook]

3. k n r

[blindpig]

4. Not just lies, but big lies.

Shameless whoring for the Capitalist master.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

5. K & R

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Bodhi BloodWave]

9. and how is the WH to blame for the media using other words then they used? nt

[Poboy]

8. ttt

[G_j]

14. k