Gulf Oil Spill: BP's Secret Army Of Oil Disaster Contractors

Think Progress:

The true story of the BP disaster is how private contractors, not the government, are handling the response. Of the 25,000 people responding to the greatest environmental catastrophe in the history of the nation, 21,000 are under contract to the foreign oil giant BP. This private army includes workers shipped in from California making $10 an hour to clean the beaches, ex-military public relations experts, and submarine robotics companies. There are no contractors working directly for the government. The Center for American Progress -- like many other outside observers -- recommends that the government take over operational control from BP, to resolve conflicts of interest between the foreign corporation's shareholders and public health and safety.

Read the whole story: Think Progress

Comments

[breakingpoint]

01:53 AM on 07/01/2010

you can be just like them
http://instantoilspill.com

[nexxtep54]

01:33 PM on 06/21/2010

It is this same society of secrets that will quash concepts like this . . . . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UP8iN4ZX1JU&feature=channel . . . because it represents a costly advancement of oil drilling safety.

[luziannagirl]

12:33 PM on 06/21/2010

And this piece in today's Times-Picayune illustrates about how well that BP/Coast Guard public/private partnership cleanup is going:

http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/06/tern_nesting_areas_being_distu.html

It's an update on my post last week detailing how an American Bird Conservancy rep documented, via video posted on YouTube, clean-up worker tire tracks going right though an endangered Least Tern nesting colony. He showed a nest with live chicks in it, which had been rolled right over by an ATV making "donuts" in the sand. He even caught a truck driving within 10 ft of a nest.

This article reports that though the state dept of wildlife and fisheries has been meeting with cleanup workers and the National Guard to educate them about not destroying the very nature they were sent to protect, the destruction continues.

[bryanzth]

12:05 AM on 06/21/2010

Sec. The workers are being paid 10-18, depending on if they are grunt workers or grunt worker bosses. Now what does BP pay the contract firms per hour per man? And then how many layers are there of contractors and subcontractors?

So we know the end pay, but not the top billing, which could be a way to divert the money right back into the pockets of BP. Paying itself eventually.

Oh, let's just trust the Oil Magnates to do the right thing. They know better.

Yeap.

BZ.

[hollybork]

07:23 PM on 06/20/2010

There are other workmen on the ships at the site of the blowout who are not being seen or interviewed. I wonder if they are subject to OSHA rules to protect them from the fumes they are encountering? The atmosphere around this spill is charged with elevated VOC's and is dangerous.

[pirx]

09:04 PM on 06/20/2010

Short answer - yes.

[Stirmon]

07:12 PM on 06/20/2010

For 60 days we have watched our neighbors on the Gulf Coast lose their coasts, beaches, marshes and wildlife, while proven solutions for actually CLEANING UP THE OIL are being stopped by government regulators.

I can't imagine an excuse that justifies the devastating loss or the total lack of co-operation from the government to CLEAN UP the Coast.

Deborah Oyler and Brenda Robinson, find themselves lost in a maze of federal bureaucracy, with no end in sight.

Their firms, Green Earth Naturally, LLC (GEN) and Environmental Solutions, Inc. (ESI) respectively, leading a team of small businesses from five states, at their own expense, have invested extensive time in the Gulf region studying the devastating environmental impact of the spill. The goal? To design a clean up that: 1) minimizes the impact of the encroaching oil by capturing the spill and degrading it before it ever reaches land; and 2) prevents oil from adhering to trees, shrubs, rocks, and wildlife on the beaches, marshes and other coastal areas.

They succeeded. Through a series of comprehensive tests in the Gulf region for more than a month they have validated a technology process that can effectively address the oil encroachment facing Gulf region states.

Help Us Clean the Gulf and Stop the Federal Stonewalling!

http://gulfcoastcleaning.blogspot.com/

[e-mail]

[e-mail]

[Ann Shahan]

06:32 PM on 06/20/2010

What's news about this? It's BPs' responsibility to clean this up, not the federal government. This looks like it was written by a Conservative Republican.

[wdw505]

01:11 AM on 06/21/2010

and yet it was written by a liberal

[EatYourVeg]

06:21 PM on 06/20/2010

Private contractors have taken over your country, from your wars abroad to the safeguard of your own people and beaches. Sooner or later you'll realize that a big and efficient government taking care of the main issues a country is facing is not "s0cialism" but just common sense.

[wdw505]

01:12 AM on 06/21/2010

no it is socialism

[Chernynkaya]

05:48 PM on 06/20/2010

OK, I am obviously missing an important point here, but I don't see why BP should not pay for the cleanup and use sub-contractors to do it.

The military has no special expertise in this. And besides, IMO, the military is not the white knight. I remember the Wikileaks videos very well.

[EatYourVeg]

06:18 PM on 06/20/2010

You're right, but under these extraordinary circumstances, we'd need someone in charge acting in the best interest of the public, not in the best interest of a private (and foreign) company.

[pirx]

06:49 PM on 06/20/2010

Excuse this repeat from downthread, but I've been working in the garden all day and my limited typing skills are further challenged.

The BP Gulf cleanup is being conducted under the Incident Command System (ICS). To over simplify, every organization (private, government and NGO) involved sets up similar organizational structures under a single commander. The top commanders meet and agree on a course of action, the underlings coordinate with their equals in the other organizations as required to get the job done.

ICS was derived from the Allied joint command in WWII, and is SOP for wildfires and natural disasters, and just about any activity that requires agencies and organizations to work on close cooperation on an emergency basis.

The Incident Commander is Admiral Allen of the Coast Guard. So you see, we actually do have "someone in charge acting in the best interest of the public". I know the scattershot coverage of the MSM does not give you that picture, but it is true, nonetheless.

[Harrier]

05:36 PM on 06/20/2010

What this means is the government has no more money and is bankrupt. Time to more out money from your mutual funds and again and wait to see if the government makes the right financial changes to bring confidence to the economy.

[Chernynkaya]

05:39 PM on 06/20/2010

Why does this mean that the government has no more money?

[pirx]

06:54 PM on 06/20/2010

I would charitably assume that Harrier has nicknamed his wallet 'the government'. It's a Sunday, and Saturday nights can really deplete 'the government's cash reserves.

[seted]

02:11 PM on 06/20/2010

Gulf of Mexico, sung to the tune of Kokomo by the Beach Boys
Chorus
Florida, Cuba ooo it's gonna get ya
Bermuda, Bahama GOP blames Obama
Key largo, Montego, baby it's a no show
end of chorus

West of the Florida Keys, there's the Gulf of Mexico,
That's where you don't want to go, unless you like tar balls,
Dead birds in the sand, enough oil to coat the land,
they'll be dropping like flies, won't be anything alive,
at the Gulf of Mexico

Chorus

At the gulf of Mexico,
they drilled it fast then watched it blow,
BP claimed they didn't know,
ruining the Gulf of Mexico.
Give it back to them, let's pour it in the Thames.
Kick backs and pay offs, regulations they did scoff.
Oil pouring into the sea, it's simple chemistry,
they'll tell a lie that defies gravity,
That dazed look in your eye,
is it poisoning or contact high,
at the Gulf of Mexico.

chorus

At the gulf of Mexico,
they drilled it fast then watched it blow,
grab a haz mat suit and we'll go,
to the Gulf of Mexico.

chorus

[tuberider]

03:01 PM on 06/20/2010

This dirge brought me to tears.

[Sarad]

01:41 PM on 06/20/2010

I don't understand your objection to BP hiring the cleanup crews. Why in the world would you want American taxpayers to pick up the tab?

[schatsie]

02:51 PM on 06/20/2010

We just might pick up the tab for the impacts on the health of these workers...Very convenient to have them come from all over so that they cannot see the long term consequences of working in that environment...

[Chernynkaya]

05:42 PM on 06/20/2010

Obama made BP set aside $500 million for health -related claims.

[EatYourVeg]

06:26 PM on 06/20/2010

For God's sake, you're talking about your own land, your fellow citizen, your own environment. Do you really just care about who's spending the money? Is it all about the money? Do you think BP is gonna take care of those workers, of the wildlife and so on, when you don't care about it in the first place and are just worried about your "taxpayer money"?

[had-enough]

11:20 AM on 06/20/2010

Fox in the henhouse!

[jcaunter]

05:55 AM on 06/20/2010

Remember all the news a while back about how a Hurricane in the Gulf would actually be good for the environment (among other things)?

Well, Thinkprogress is now reporting that the NYTimes had the wool pulled over its eyes. The guys cited as the source of this misinformation are a BP funded shill group:

http://thinkprogress.org/2010/06/18/bp-gulf-foundation

Yet another low blow to the credibility of the MSM. Who does the fact checking for the MSM like the New York Times these days anyway? Baghdad Bob?

[pirx]

10:44 AM on 06/20/2010

There are ample independent and well established sources to back up the analysis of the effect of a hurricane on the oil slick. My favorite is Dr. Jeff Masters on the Weather Underground.

www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=1476&commentnum=0#comment_0

As to the NYT specifically and the MSM in general regurgitating corporate talking points? What do think they are paid to do?

[rhymney]

01:26 AM on 06/20/2010

Is there some reason there can't be a private army as well as a government led clean up going on at the same time? Couldn't greater effort improve the situation? Why knock the private contractors when there is no public response?

[pirx]

01:48 AM on 06/20/2010

There are several divisions, but I would say both the public and the private workers are part of the same army.

The BP Gulf cleanup is being conducted under the Incident Command System (ICS). To over simplify, every organization (private, government and NGO) involved sets up similar organizational structures under a single commander. The top commanders meet and agree on a course of action, the underlings coordinate with their equals in the other organizations as required to get the job done.

ICS was derived from the Allied joint command in WWII, and is SOP for wildfires and natural disasters, and just about any activity that requires agencies and organizations to work on close cooperation on an emergency basis.