"...Additional emails appear to show that BP were solely in charge with granting permits to scientists to access affected areas...."
Leaked: 30,000 BP oil spill memos, emails and transcripts
In the middle of last year, Greenpeace started submitted a string of Freedom of Information requests to US government agencies in relation to last year’s disastrous BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
As a result the environmental group have obtained some 30,000 memos, emails and transcripts which document the worst oil spill in American history. Taking cues from WikiLeaks, Greenpeace has begun to leak its considerable cache online for all to see. Here’s what we pulled out of the document dump:
In one internal email, BP environmental expert Russell Putt asks his colleagues if the company can take control of the $500m research fund set up to investigate the impacts of the spill:
“Can we ‘direct’ GRI [Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative] funding to a specific study (as we now see the Governor’s offices trying to do)? What influence do we have over the vessels/equipment driving the studies vs the questions?”
Butt’s request came after BP officials discussed whether the company could influence the research program to studies that BP considered “useful”.
The emails also reveal that environmental groups were consistently expressing their concerns to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) over the effects of BP’s controlled oil burns on sea turtle populations in the Gulf of Mexico.
Around 250 pages of emails reveal animal welfare groups were constantly in contact with the NOAA during the controlled burning, with many asking for clarification of press reports of turtles being burnt alive.
Figures released in the emails show hundreds of turtles perished in the fires, with groups like PETA, the Turtle Island Restoration Network and the Center for Biological Diversity concernced that BP were not doing all they could to save the turtles. Another set of emails lays out the effects of the oil spill on threatened species, including dolphins.
Other emails obtained by Greenpeace appear to show the rush by university departments to be involved in the $500m BP research fund.
In one email a Texas A&M representative urges a group of Texan universities to set up a consortium like other states in case “funding comes this way”. Additional emails appear to show that BP were solely in charge with granting permits to scientists to access affected areas.
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