U.S. kept photos of dead whale under wraps during spill, Greenpeace says
The environmental group Greenpeace is raising new questions about why it took the federal government more than two years to release information about a dead sperm whale that was discovered during the BP oil spill. The 26-foot juvenile whale, an endangered species, was discovered by a NOAA research vessel about 77 miles from the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Greenpeace officials learned of it in September, when the government finally responded to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by Greenpeace in June 2010.
"The problem remains that we don't know exactly what BP and the government scientists saw, what they documented, and how they kept their records," said Greenpeace research director Kert Davies in a news release. "The systemic clamp down on information and consistent lack of transparency and images such as these continue to remind us to demand full accountability from the oil companies and the government, especially with the looming legal settlement between the company and the government."
Reports by the Wall Street Journal and other media outlets in recent weeks say there are ongoing negotiations between BP and federal and state lawyers aimed at settling civil and criminal charges and government damage claims for between $15 billion and $20 billion.
"Clearly, the public hasn't seen all the evidence," Davies said. "These images of a dead whale in the Gulf of Mexico, if they had been released in June 2010, would have been front page news. It's pretty upsetting to know that you and I are paying taxpayer money for federal officials to observe things that we still haven't seen."
Tissue samples from the dead whale were harvested by government researchers aboard the NOAA research vessel Pisces, according to emails released to Greenpeace. The whale already had been dead for some time, and was being eaten by sharks, making it impossible to collect more than a small sample.
"Scientists did take samples from the carcass, but because the animal was so badly decomposed, the cause of death could not be determined," said Scott Smullen, deputy director of communications and external affairs for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, when asked about the Greenpeace documents.
Smullen said crew members aboard the Pisces wrote about their finding on a web blog on the day of the sighting, and two days later, NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service issued a news release describing the finding.
But Davies said the documents given to Greenpeace include a version of that news release showing it was edited to remove "sensitive" material. And other emails between senior officials on the ship and on shore indicated an effort to block crew members from discussing the finding in public.
NOAA also has not released the test results of the whale flesh, which might show whether there was oil on or in the animal when it died, he said.
"Due to ongoing litigation issues, we are not able to discuss this aspect of our investigation," Smullen said in response to a request for the sampling results.
Other documents indicated that on the same June day as the dead whale discovery, the seismic survey vessel MV Gilavar spotted four adult and one juvenile sperm whale swimming through oily sheen, about 20 miles from the BP well site.
The whales came close enough to the ship to force its crew to stop their surveying, as required under federal laws protecting endangered species. The surveying uses air guns or explosive charges to bounce sound off the ocean floor to search for oil and gas formations, and observers on board are required to survey the area to assure endangered whales, dolphins or sea turtles do not wander into the noisemaking area.
The crew spotted two whales nearby at about 2:30 p.m., but they were not within the area being surveyed. But then a 26-foot-long juvenile whale swam up to the ship, and observers on board saw that it was covered with oil. That whale then swam into the survey area, forcing the ship to shut down its testing.Four large sperm whales appeared a few minutes later and also entered into the testing area, requiring an extension of the shutdown. The crew reported it was likely those whale also were covered in the same oil.
The report said that radio traffic in the area indicated there also was controlled burning of oil in the area, causing smoke.
"Water color is greenish-brown, with patches of iridescent sheens scattered all over. Small brown globs of what appear to be oil and possibly oil dispersant infiltrate the water," the report said. "The Gilavar obviously had nothing to do with the oil injury of these animals. The oil clearly came from the leak of the Deepwater Horizon well, which is approximately 20 miles SSE of where the whales were sighted."
Smullen said NOAA received the report, but there was little it could do to confirm the whales were oiled.
"The crew did report that sighting, but unless a permitted, trained and equipped team of experts is there to immediately follow and tag the animals, they are nearly impossible to relocate since they move great distances quickly and stay submerged for prolonged periods of time," he said.
Greenpeace also has questions about photos in NOAA files that were taken May 11, 2010, of another four whales, again possibly sperm whales, swimming through oiled water, Davies said. Those photos also were not released when they were taken.
"While there is not a definitive link between the BP oil disaster and the death of the whale in the photo, the story does serve as a very graphic reminder that more must be done to protect the marine wildlife in the Gulf of Mexico," said Shelley Sparks, a spokeswoman for the Ocean Conservancy.
She said money paid by BP under the Oil Pollution Act's Natural Resource Damage Assessment process, or under the RESTORE Act, which requires 80 percent of Clean Water Act fines from the spill be directed to restoration "should be used to not only address cultural, coastal and economic needs, but also the marine environment, which is often out of sight."