Fish get rich, BP "reporters" gush over economic impacts of spill, and country’s only oil spill test tank is leaking
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Fish get rich, BP "reporters" gush over economic impacts of spill, and country’s only oil spill test tank is leaking
By Adriene Hill
Who stands to gain from the Gulf Coast oil spill?
Fish. Humor from the Upright Citizens Brigade:
BP also provided it’s own darker, and less intentional laughs this week when the WSJ reported that BP’s in house magazine “Planet BP” wrote a glowing story about the economic impact of the spill on the region.
“Much of the region’s [nonfishing boat] businesses — particularly the hotels — have been prospering because so many people have come here from BP and other oil emergency response teams,” another report says. Indeed, one tourist official in a local town makes it clear that “BP has always been a very great partner of ours here…We have always valued the business that BP sent us.”
Good work BP. Go ahead and pat yourself on the back.
BP’s got to look for love wherever it can find it these days. A news poll finds the company has only a 6% approval rating. (I wonder who those 6% are?)
And, in case you were wondering where the government is testing out oil spill technology these days — the answer is NOWHERE.
According to Mother Jones:
“There’s just one facility in the world where scientists and emergency responders can run full-scale oil spill response tests and research. It’s housed at US Naval Weapons Station Earle in Leonardo, New Jersey. But when Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) tried to arrange a visit to the facility earlier this week, he learned that the facility is presently inoperable. Why? The tank researchers use to simulate spills has sprung a leak.”
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