VOTER INFO

Ana Maria’s Fights
BP Oil’s Catastrophe in the Gulf

Playing ‘Marco Polo’ in the Gulf

When Ana Maria Rosato spoke with a Sun Herald reporter about BP Oil giant’s self-created environmental catastrophe, she characterized the rescue and recovery efforts to playing ‘Marco Polo’ in the Gulf with a bunch of headless chickens — referring to the BP corporate titans.

Given the vacuum of a unified command for the BP-created catastrophe, Congressman Gene Taylor (D-South Miss.) leveraged his Coast Guard experience and his expert knowledge of the Gulf Coast waters to step up to the plate to organize the response efforts among the various federal, state, local, and private organizations.

In addition to the chaos between and among the various organizations involved in the response to this horrific disaster, one of the other big challenges was in determining the exact location of the oil in — as well as on the surface of — the water.

BP Oil Catastrophe
Fire boat response crews battle the blazing remnants of the offshore oil rig Deepwater Horizon April 21, 2010. Multiple Coast Guard helicopters, planes and cutters responded to rescue the Deepwater Horizon’s 126 person crew (U.S. Coast Guard) Photo credit: U.S. Marine Mammal Commission

From the air, algae and oil look similar. Looking for the oil by boat was inefficient and ineffective. The efforts appeared almost futile.

One of the many obstacles to bringing organization to this chaos involved butting heads with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ASPECT and Rep. Gene Taylor

The EPA had deployed the ASPECT Aircraft to the theater and stationed it in Gulfport, Miss. ASPECT stands for Airborne Spectral Photometric Environmental Collection Technology, the nation’s only 24/7 airborne emergency response chemical and radiological mapping program.

In addition to the chaos between and among the various organizations involved in the response to this horrific disaster, one of the other big challenges was in determining the exact location of the oil in — as well as on the surface of — the water. From the air, algae and oil look similar.

Looking for the oil by boat was inefficient and ineffective. The efforts appeared almost futile.

BP Oil on Gulf Coast Shores: Preventable

Soon after the EPA’s ASPECT team of scientists arrived in Gulfport, Miss., Dr. Robert Kroutil — the team’s lead scientist — figured out how to reprogram ASPECT’s software to detect the difference between oil, oil sheen, algae blooms, and turbulent water.

ASPECT’s new cutting edge technology made the aircraft strategically invaluable to the response efforts. Dr. Kroutil’s discovery turned ASPECT Aircraft into the nation’s only asset that could definitively determine the exact location of surface oil.

May 9, 2010 – U.S. EPA’s Airborne Spectralphotometric Environmental Collection Technology (ASPECT) aircraft used to gather a wide array of information about the spill, including air quality data. USEPA photo by Eric Vance

EPA’s ASPECT Aircraft used infrared technology to

take photos of the exact locations of oil in the Gulf of Mexico and could tell the difference between crude oil, algae blooms, and turbulent water.

Within minutes, ASPECT’s high level government scientists transmitted the data to the U.S. Coast Guard, which routed real time information to boats in the water that would be deployed immediately to the exact location of the oil.

Ana Maria went into action obtaining substantial media coverage for Congressman Taylor’s efforts to leverage the power of this tremendous government asset.

Speaking with WLOX-TV (the local ABC affiliate), Congressman Gene Taylor said that using ASPECT meant that boats didn’t get caught short-handed and ensured that time wasn’t wasted.  

Taylor stated that oil on our shores was all preventable. The Coast Guard and BP failed to listen to him two weeks prior to the interview when Rep. Taylor had laid out his plan for solving the problem.

The EPA’s ASPECT Aircraft uses infrared technology to take photos of a locate exact locations of oil in the Gulf of Mexico. ASPECT can tell the difference between crude oil, algae blooms, and turbulent water. Taylor said that using ASPECT meant boats don’t get caught short handed and ensures that time isn’t wasted.

Taylor stated that oil on the Gulf Coast shores was all preventable.

However, the Coast Guard and BP failed to listen to him two weeks prior when Rep. Taylor laid out his plan for solving the problem. Taylor said that either they would listen to him or he would tell the President of the United States to let him run the show so he can fix it.

Obviously, keeping ASPECT up and running was critical to protecting the Mississippi Sound.

Ana Maria Rosato and the Power of the Media

A mid-level EPA manager flew down to Gulfport, Mississippi and met with Ana Maria Rosato, whom Taylor had tasked as his congressional liaison to the EPA ASPECT team of scientists. After lunching on poboys at Lil’ Rays restaurant, the EPA manager told Ana Maria that either she get the congressman to stop criticizing the EPA or the ASPECT plane would be reassigned away from the BP Oil Catastrophe.

Never one to flinch in the face of a threat, Ana Maria pushed her chair back, looked up at the man staring him straight in his eyes, and said as she chuckled ,”I’m going to get so much positive publicity, you won’t be able to move it.”

The man’s jaw dropped as if he had never had anyone push back against his unprofessional and immoral threats in the middle of a catastrophe.

Ana Maria continued to implement her multi-pronged media strategy to increased public awareness of the congressman’s efforts to solve the catastrophe so that the depression many felt could ease. Additional pressure also provided the EPA an opportunity to rethink its attempt to move the ASPECT aircraft and its high-level team of government scientists away from the catastrophe.

Additional press coverage such as with CNN also assisted Congressman Taylor in procuring the additional resources the ASPECT team of scientists required to carry out this important mission to save the Mississippi Sound.

Ana Maria Rosato’s sophisticated multi-layered communications strategy to leverage the power of local, state, and national press coverage brought needed pressure on the agency to ensure that it rescind its directive to move the plane away from the catastrophe BP Oil created.

Atlanta protest signs of the times June 2020 updated May 2021 | Photo and Video Credit: Ana Maria Rosato for the ACLU of Georgia

Saving the Mississippi Gulf Coast

In the end, Congressman Taylor’s extensive expertise coupled with his strong relationships on the ground and fueled with the power of the media that Ana Maria secured ensured Taylor’s success in mitigating the BP Oil catastrophe along the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Pages

Listen On

Copyright © 2022 – 2023 By Ana Maria Rosato All rights reserved.

Website design: Leo Operations