OIL SPILL? NOT REALLY...THERE!
Ivor van Heerden, a BP spokescientist, tells Time: "Nothing to see here folks. Oil wetlands impact turns out to be just a big old overstated wet dream."
~Editilla Crowtellas~ Of course Van Heerden isn't alone this time, yet this is the sort of Flotsam Press we see rise above restrictions into PR Spinfiltration.
On the one hand, we have journalist Mac McClelland - recently reporting this:
(Notella~bare in mind she may not have the high level access to consultants as does Michael Grumwald in his story above. Indeed.)
~I sent one text message to Bloomberg's Lizzie O'Leary, who's standing on Grand Isle, Louisiana, right now, asking how the beach looks. "Lower part past the barrier untouched with globs of oil that washed up last night," she said. By "untouched," she means by cleanup crews, and that "barrier" she's talking about is the one the press isn't allowed past. I sent another text to Drew Wheelan, who's also in Southwestern Louisiana, doing bird surveys for the American Birding Association, asking him how big the biggest tar mat on Grand Terre—the scene of those now famous horrifying oiled-bird photos—is. "20 feet by 15," he said. "But bigger ones submerged slightly."
On another hand we have journalist Georgianne Neinaber -reported this (from Queen Bess and neighboring Grand Terre Island, 2 days after Van Heerden's NPR advertorial from there, 3 days after the damning Boston Globe photographs):
~There were rings of deflective and absorbent boom surrounding Queen Bess and neighboring Grand Terre Island, but something was very wrong. The boom was a neglected window dressing--broken, saturated, and coiled in some places like gigantic, filthy, bloated snakes.
Oil had crept over, under and around the abandoned boom that formed a moat around Queen Bess's castle. Pelicans on the shore that were not oiled were wading through puddles of gloppy red goo, literally trying to shake the stuff off their feet. Four unfortunate, completely oiled birds, bobbed in the sheen and dispersant-filled "moat" with no hope of flight or food. Uncounted oiled birds wobbled through the grasses or spread their wings in a kind of gruesome crucifixion tableau on the rocky shore.
But on the back hand we have the scientists, one here with Van Heerden saying the oxygen levels aren't that badly effected in the Gulf -- while yet another scientist, about to map the "NOAA designated non-existent" oil plumes, says that NO detailed surveys have been made in 2 mo. of anywhere covering the Source:
~A team led by oceanographer Samantha Joye tracked one plume during research voyages in May and June. She said no one has made a systematic sweep around the massive oil spill in the Gulf to find other plumes. Joye says it's been about two months since anyone measured underwater oxygen in the area.
~And yet another~Scientists Find Evidence That Oil And Dispersant Mix Is Making Its Way Into The Foodchain
~Marine biologists started finding orange blobs under the translucent shells of crab larvae in May, and have continued to find them "in almost all" of the larvae they collect, all the way from Grand Isle, Louisiana, to Pensacola, Fla. -- more than 300 miles of coastline -- said Harriet Perry, a biologist with the University of Southern Mississippi's Gulf Coast Research Laboratory.
So who ya'gonna believe? The Press has been restricted on land to 65 feet, under threat of Felony, they have been harassed by private security and local police working for BP, airspace above the oil spill has been strictly regulated...
---yet here, Ivor van Heerden and 3 other consultants and contractors with BP are allowed access to Michael Grunwald to present alternative "Expert Witness".
What is wrong with this picture? I'll tell you. When the Press Coverage is stifled, censored, pushed as far away from an event as here, then there must be a Replacement Story, a Competing Narrative from other "Expert Witnesses".
This is what I see wrong with this picture now being PR-hammered and sold as the BP Oil Spill. We have been waiting and watching to see Who in this stark reality of Press Censorship would be the reporter "given the story". Michael Gurnwald, goddamn. He used to do much more thorough cross checking and broader contextual narrative. Now he gets The Packet, what Editilla has come to call Smoking Jello Science. No News=No News. PR=PR. No News=PR News
But this is good news eh? There's no place with oil. There's no place with oil.
Close our eyes, click our heals together 3 times and whisper that over and over...
Oh! And PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE MAN BEHIND THE BOOM.
~Editilla dixclaimas~We remain hopeful and bare in mind that Van Heerden may just yet pull a rabbit out of his ass on his assessments that the oil is degrading sooner than later and that the wetlands grasses will survive its impact sooner also. Apparently his BP-subsidized company has this really nifty Smurfy technology that can wash that oil right outta your sand!

Imagine Editilla's surprise, I mean what a coincidence, to see Ivor van Heerden here with this article the day after an article on his BP-subsidized company getting denied a permit by the Corps of Engineers to use their Sand Sparkler.

Anatomy of an Oil Spill, part II
~American Zombie

Flyover at the Macondo Wellhead: Damage Control at "The Source"
~Georgianne Nienaber

Where has all the oil gone?
~Horatio Algeranon

Lament for the Gulf of Mexico by Tina Micula~Plutonian Mac

The Gulf Bird Toll: How Low Can You Go? ~Environmental Defense Fund

Scuzzbuckets of New York
~Thanks, Katrina

BP's Photoshop experts clean up entire region ~The New Orleans Levee
~BP executives in late July ecstatically announced their team of photo-editing experts have completely removed all traces of oil from the Gulf of Mexico.
The massive image-cleanup effort, which involved photography of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and the Florida Panhandle, required teams of graphic artists working 14-hour shifts, said BP Chief Operations Officer Doug Suttles.

Tallying BP's bill for Gulf of Mexico oil spill could take a decade~Mark Schleifstein
~Also~Environmental groups propose framework for merging oil spill response, coastal restoration~Oil sheen on surface of Gulf of Mexico is hard to burn, treat with dispersant, or skim

Bring on the expense accounts into debate over location of oil spill lawsuits~Stephanie Grace

Drill, cher, drill!
~Walter Pierce, Gambit

New Orleans' Jail Advisory Group will not open meetings to the public, administration says
~Karen Gadbois, The Lens

31 Days 2 Year 5:
A Photographic Journey
~NOLAFemmes