According to information obtained by a liberal environmentalist group, the White House deliberately misled the public about the amount of oil leaking into the Gulf of Mexico after the Deepwater Horizon disaster in April 2010.
The month after the spill, the administration announced that about 25,000 barrels per day of oil was being leaked into the Gulf. That estimate turned out to be wildly off the mark. About 53,000 bpd were being spilled.
According to emails obtained by the group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, the administration falsely reported the U.S. Geological Survey’s low-end estimate as its high-end estimate, dramatically downplaying the amount of oil flooding into the Gulf.
USGS director Marcia McNutt wrote the following on May 29:
I cannot tell you what a nightmare the past two days have been dealing with the communications people at the White House, DOI, and the NIC who seem incapable of understanding the concept of a lower bound. The press release that went out on our results was misleading and was not reviewed by a scientist for accuracy.
PEER also alleges that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration “maniputalted” data on the extent of the spill by marginalizing measurements that showed a significantly larger volume of oil seeping into the Gulf – measurements that turned out to be far more accurate.
Lehr was leader of one of the most important FRTG teams, the “Plume Team” which analyzed videos of the oil leaks to produce the first estimates. Three of the 13 Plume Team experts used a technique called Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) to estimate a leak rate in the range of 25,000 bpd. But three other experts on the Plume Team reported that PIV was underestimating the size of the leak by more than 50%. Those three experts used a different technology to correctly peg the leak rate at 50,000 to 60,000 bpd.
Yet Lehr did not tell the public or key decision makers that there was a deep split on the Plume Team. In the Plume Team’s Final Report, the body of which Lehr wrote, he reported that “most of the Plume Team used PIV” which produced “consistent and accurate” estimates. These underestimates were repeated to the public and media.
" [Team Obama] seem incapable of understanding the concept of a lower bound"
They have the same problem with the constitution.
d(^_^)b http://libertyatstake.blogspot.com/
"Because the Only Good Progressive is a Failed Progressive"
With friends like these enviro-nuts, who needs enemies?
This comment is my own personal opinion, not that of any agency of the Federal government. The PEER allegations are false and misleading. Readers are encouraged to download the Plume Team final report from the DOI Deepwater Horizon website. If they do that they will note each team member was allowed to include uncensored a description of the methods that they used and the results they found. Each team member was given opportunity to comment and suggest changes on the conclusions. The conclusions include the consensus estimate of the majority of team members, including some members who used non-standard imaging techniques. Copies of the report were provided to high-level government officials to aid in making response decisions but also made available to the public. While the answers may not fit the political agenda of PEER, they were a honest attempt by some of the country's leading experts on fluid flow to provide a timely answer under emergency conditions. In my opinion, PEER has shown itself to be an illegitimate advocate for the environment. Responsible organizations check their facts first before seeking publicity. Bill Lehr
This comment is my own personal opinion, not that of any agency of the Federal government. The PEER allegations are false and misleading. The contain distortions, false conclusions, factual errors and outright lies.Readers are encouraged to download the Plume Team final report from the DOI Deepwater Horizon website. If they do that they will note each team member was allowed to include, uncensored, a description of the methods that they used and the results they found. Each team member was given opportunity to comment and suggest changes on the conclusions. The conclusions include the consensus estimate of the majority of team members, including some members who used non-standard imaging techniques. Copies of the report were provided to high-level government officials to aid in making response decisions but also made available to the public. While the answers may not fit the political agenda of PEER, they were a honest attempt by some of the country’s leading experts on fluid flow to provide a timely answer under emergency conditions.
PEER , in my opinion, has shown itself to be an illegitimate voice for the environment. Responsible environmental organizations check their facts first before seeking publicity.
Bill Lehr
NO, that can't be, Obumble would never mislead the American people, he is honest… Yeah right!!!
The other aspect of this report ought to be the consequence of the estimate. Based on their deliberate attempt to report the low number for the leak, the hysteria at that time was about the "unrecoverable damage" to the eco-system of the gulf. That also turned out to be false and clearly meant to cripple oil production and put the industry out of business-clearly the agenda of the socialist federal government. Bottom line in this as well as in the unemployment report, CPI report, GDP report or for that matter any other report of general public interest, is that they should all be discounted because they are politically driven.
This new information illustrates more forcefully how ready nature is to deal with these disruptions. Another blow to the extremists in environmentalism.
And the Gulf took care of it SELF Just like Volcanos going off what is the human being going to do???????? Ship all these ENVI-NUTS out of the country, they do nothing for the USA any way it is a FRAUD Just like Al Gores Global Warming what a joke. These people are the sponges of the Socialist World, Counting Fish then take people's land away, All of them want control over something and then tell the MASSES what is happening while they do nothing but draw huge salaries just like school teachers watching your KIDS grow then send a piece of paper home what a sham.
What difference does it make as to how much oil was spilled? Obama got what he wanted. Major damage to the Gulf Coast that gave him an excuse to shut-down drilling nation wide. Obama deliberately did not accept foreign help, manipulated government agencies, not to mention the true reason the BOP failed to shun-in the well after the blow-out. It doesn't makes a rat behind as to how much oil was spilled. What matters is Obama got what he wanted.
Obama's government lies to the American public? Say it ain't so! I'm shocked…..LOL!
It's only a lie if it is told by a GOP Administration!
Why would they vastly under-report the spill rate? If I was trying to drive a nail in the coffin of the offshore oil industry, and the industry at large, I would over-report the spill rate. They have me at a loss.
Look at the the USGS found regarding the oil spill. I believe it to be the most honest of the govt. agency reports. The volcanoes were said to be spilling more oil into the gulf than the wells.