Photos to go with BPGlobalPR Twitter page

Here's the Twitter page that I blogged about the other day and now photos to match the tweets.





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Report: BP shipped in workers for Obama visit - left after Obama left

But remember Steven Pearlstein at the Washington Post is impressed with BP and thinks business schools will be teaching this case study in crisis management in years to come. If these allegations are true, this is a problem. It also highlights why the government and not BP ought to be running the cleanup. Let BP pay but in no way should be they in charge. Read the rest of this post...

Exposure to crude oil and dispersants are a public health risk

Maybe when people start to get sick, BP can bus in healthy people so it looks OK for the photo ops. It appeared to work for the Obama visit so why not try it again? And those protective respirators for workers? Are you kidding? Do you know how bad that looks on TV? People might think there's a serious problem or something. You have to crack eggshells to make an omelet after all. The workers are glad to have a job and will die happy knowing they were able to pitch in and help BP's cause.

Wilma Subra, a chemist who has served as a consultant to the Environmental Protection Agency, said there was growing anecdotal evidence that locals were falling ill after exposure to tiny airborne particles of crude. Air quality data released earlier by the EPA suggested the presence of chemicals that – while still within legal limits – could be dangerous. But Subra complained that the EPA was not releasing all data it had gathered from BP.

"Every time the wind blows from the south-east to the shore, people are being made sick," she said. "It causes severe headaches, nausea, respiratory problems, burning eyes and sore throats." Long-term health effects include neurological disorders and cancer.

Subra said there was even greater concern for those recruited to lay booms and skim crude off the water, since they were in closer proximity to the oil and the chemical dispersants.

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Top Kill reportedly not working on Gulf oil spill

NYT:

BP engineers failed again to plug the gushing oil well on Saturday, a technician working on the project said, representing yet another setback in a series of unsuccessful procedures the company has tried a mile under the sea to stem the flow spreading into the Gulf of Mexico.

BP made a third attempt Friday night at what is termed the “junk shot,” a procedure that involves pumping odds and ends like plastic cubes, knotted rope, and golf balls into the blowout preventer, the five-story safety device atop the well. The maneuver is complementary to the heavily scrutinized effort known as a “top kill,”which began four days ago and involves pumping heavy mud into the well to counteract the push of the escaping oil. If the well is sealed, the company plans to then fill it with cement.

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Oil leak zone much wider than previously reported

As we posted yesterday, experts had already been raising this issue though BP somehow failed to raise this issue. When people talk about wanting transparency in the process, they would full disclosure as opposed to the foggy information being trickled out by BP and the government. Blockading the media continues to benefit BP and now we have yet another surprise that has been kept hidden.

What unpleasant surprise will we discover next? Well, besides the report that there are perhaps two underwater plumes with one dangerously close to the current that would drag the mess to the west coast of Florida. Some days it can be very difficult to follow the transparent relief process.

New evidence emerged Friday that the oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico was spreading more broadly than previously thought as BP continued its fitful efforts to stop the worst oil spill in U.S. history and President Obama returned to the Gulf Coast to assess the damage.

A day after a research team reported finding a huge "plume" of oil extending miles east of the leaking BP well, another university scientist said his crew had located another vast plume of oily globs in the opposite direction, in a section of the gulf 75 miles northwest of where the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on April 20.

James H. Cowan Jr., a professor at Louisiana State University, said his crew sent a remotely controlled submarine into the water, a section already closed to fishing, and found it full of oily globules, ranging from the size of a thumbnail to the size of a golf ball -- "like big, wet snowflakes, but they're brown and black and oily."

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Orrin Hatch's unethical concern for ethics

It seems Orrin Hatch is concerned about the ethics of Democratic Senate candidate Democrat Richard Blumenthal in Connecticut. Only problem? Hatch has business dealings with two people working on the campaign of Blumenthal's opponent, Linda McMahon. It would be unfortunately unethical if the McMahon campaign were the ones who hatched this idea in the first place. Read the rest of this post...

Saturday morning open thread

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The Stones - Loving Cup

I grew up listening to the Stones since my older brother was a huge fan. They're not really at the top of my list of favorites but I'm really enjoying the new release of Exile on Main Street. If there is one album that has always been near the top of my favorite list, it would be exile. I couldn't believe the recent Times article about the new album because the writer couldn't see that Exile is hands down the best Stones album ever. He did acknowledge that it tends to be the favorite for Stones fans. Here's the link to the "new" version that is on the recent release. I like it as well.

Strangely enough, since moving to France I've run into Mick Jagger three times. The first time I nearly bumped into him as I was making my way through the narrow streets of a village in the Loire. It was raining so I was hiding under my umbrella when I heard a very proper British accent, which was unusual. Most of the tourists in the area had different accents. I popped my head up and there was Mick and his daughter (who had the proper accent) and then some massive bodyguard with an equally massive dog. Apparently he has a chateau somewhere nearby so pops into the village on a regular basis. He red Ferrari stands out, every so slightly so he's not the most discrete person around.

The second time was in the same village when I met a bunch of friends at a local cafe. There he was, hanging out at a very ordinary place which was pretty cool. My third encounter was in Paris while leaving the George V hotel for a conference. He was coming in at the same time. What stood out for me was how wiry he was up close. He's in amazing condition but he has to be to perform the way he does. Read the rest of this post...

Spanish debt downgraded by another ratings agency

Borrowing just became a bit more difficult and expensive for Spain. The downgrade by Fitch is the second in recent weeks.

"The economic adjustment process will be more difficult and prolonged than for other economies with AAA rated sovereign governments, which is why the agency has downgraded Spain's rating to AA+," it said.

"The inflexibility of the labour market and the restructuring of regional and local savings banks will... hinder the pace of adjustment, particularly in the aftermath of the real estate boom," it warned.

The European Union has been anxious to see more fragile European economies - including Spain, Portugal and Greece - impose tougher austerity measures.

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