BP et al. vs. Science

Charles Wohlforth writes in today's LA Times:

Disturbing trends from the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska are being repeated in the Gulf of Mexico disaster.

After spending around half a billion dollars, scientists paid by the government to study the Exxon Valdez oil spill over the last two decades still cannot answer some of the most important questions about the damage it caused or about whether Prince William Sound will fully recover. We're in danger of ending up just as ignorant after the BP oil blowout in the Gulf of Mexico, as once again, our legal, political and economic systems hobble scientists and pervert the search for answers.

A big part of the problem in the Alaska situation is that business and government have a desire not to know, and especially not to tell. Some of the same institutions responsible for the damage and the cleanup also fund the science that can expose their culpability and lack of effectiveness. In Alaska, Exxon and government officials resisted efforts by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to set up studies to track how well the cleanup was working and whether it was doing more harm than good. The unfavorable results of the one, small study that was completed were initially kept confidential. I was able to see them only after filing an appeal of a denied Freedom of Information Act Request.

With a similar affection for ignorance, BP, the Coast Guard and even the president for a time maintained that it didn't matter how much oil was leaking in the gulf. BP initially blocked video of the gusher that outside experts could use to estimate the flow, and only after public pressure used equipment offered by a professor to measure it directly.

Read the whole article: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-wohlford-spill-science-20100616,0,7617138.story

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And that's probably why it hasn't gotten more attention.

It needs to be shouted from the rooftops.

K&R

Goddamn BP and our government for their collusion.

Yet it seems to have generated some heat.

Thank you for the K&R.