BP Covering Up the Consequences

Pensacola Independent publisher Rick Outzen reported earlier today that a captain he knows says "boat crews" working the oil spill "have been ordered to not wear respirators, because BP doesn’t want a media helicopter to see the men and women wearing them."

The boat captain said, “I had a daughter call me, crying because her father was trapped in the oil and had the breathe the fumes.”

Mother Jones reporter Kate Sheppard writes, "BP is apparently barring cleanup workers from sharing photos of dead animals that have washed ashore." Nevertheless, she says, "the bodies are starting to add up."

Late last week, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and other responders issued a tally of the animals collected as of Friday in oil-impacted regions of Alabama, Florida , Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas—dead and alive. Those stats are shocking: 444 dead birds, 222 dead sea turtles, and 24 mammals (including dolphins).

Sheppard has asked the Unified Command for an updated report, but has not yet heard back.

We're expecting more such reports, and less factual accuracy from BP, as the days and weeks of spouting oil continue. As Duncan Black says, BP's --

theoretical primary responsibility is to their shareholders, in practice it's a bit more weighted towards the pockets of top executives. Birds and turtles, not so much.

Healthy people, not at all.