Oil company, law enforcement block media access to public sites hit by Michigan oil spill.

[babylonsister]

http://thinkprogress.org/2010/08/02/michigan-spill-media/

Oil company, law enforcement block media access to public sites hit by Michigan oil spill.


Since Enbridge Inc.’s disastrous pipeline leak gushed 1 million gallons of oil into Michigan’s Kalamazoo River last week, reports suggest that Enbridge officials and law enforcement are blocking the media from public spill sites. The Michigan Messenger reports that yesterday evening, its journalists were denied access — again — “to a key oil spill site after attempting to record video of the Kalamazoo River.” A wildlife group is also reporting similar findings from its volunteers. The Michigan Messenger’s Todd Heywood elaborates:

However, when Messenger arrived at the site a security officer working for Enbridge approached and said no media was allowed. Messenger requested to speak to the Calhoun County Deputy Sheriff who was at the site. That deputy cleared Messenger’s request with an official from Enbridge, but they would only allow the filming of 30 seconds of video. During the time Messenger was waiting to speak to the deputy, a citizen video crew approached, and was turned back by the security officer.

These reports mirror similar problems involving BP’s oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Although BP COO Doug Suttles called such reports “untrue,” numerous media reports documented BP’s efforts to block journalists from covering the oil spill and speaking with clean-up workers.

– Nina Bhattacharya

[Brickbat]

1. Nice to see we haven't learned anything since the BP spill.

[geardaddy]

2. Meet our new masters.

The oilers.

[Junkdrawer]

3. Deja Vu all over again. n/t