Dispatches From Exxon’s Spill Zone, Day 2

[dixiegrrrrl]

Environmental reporters are on the ground and covering the pipeline damage.

They are posting the local Sheriff is running reporters out of the area.

They are posting a lot of good pics.

and posting this:

.

The volunteers had explained that tar sands cause more irritation that crude oil, and that ducks they had worked with were completely red and blistered underneath their feathers. The oil also goes through their whole digestive tra

http://www.tarsandsblockade.org/exxonspill-dispatches-2/

[limpyhobbler]

1. The way Exxon is dealing with the press, you'd think they had something to hide

...One of the sheriff cars pulled us over. A very large officer barked commands at us, checking identification and making the driver get out of the car for interrogation. At one point, the cop said to the driver, “If it were up to me. I wouldn’t mind y’all being out here, but I’m getting paid a lot of money to keep you out of here.”

The cop threatened the whole media crew with trespassing and interfering with a government operation. This seemed strange, considering that Exxon and its contractors are overseeing every aspect of the spill and no government agencies are at the scene. It’s not surprising to us after seeing TransCanada hire local police officers as high-paid private security to guard our sustained 90-day tree sit against the Keystone XL pipeline.

This was our sixth encounter with the police in two days of filming and trying to talk to residents. We had even been kicked out of the adjacent neighborhood which was never evacuated. In four of them, the officers stressed (as police often do) that they understood what we were doing or didn’t have a problem with it, that they were following orders. Remarkably, they were unapologetic and open about the fact that those orders came directly from Exxon.

This is all standard practice when the dirty energy barons accidentally kill or sicken large numbers of people and eradicate whole ecosystems. Limit media coverage at all costs and deny everything. Once it becomes impossible to deny something, admit it and continue to deny everything else. We saw the same thing after over a million gallons of tar sands spilled in Kalamazoo, Michigan and Enbridge initially denied that the pipeline was carrying tar sands and continues to insist that peoples’ symptoms are not caused by the spill.
...

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. Seems to S.O.P....BP did it too, they used the Coast Guard to help them.

THAT is what added to my already considerable ire...the clear evidence that the Coast Guard was in cahoots with covering up infor. and blocking legitimate reporters.
Plus BP hired goon squads of the by now infamous "private security" to stop even the official county people from walking on the beaches owned by the county!!!!!

[postulater]

3. Another reason why they are OK with sequestration

They get to shut down EPA and any regulatory agency so they can go about their way without oversight.

Profit Uber Alles!

[hatrack]

4. Y'all have got to read this - absolutely nauseating.

nt