BP accused of attack on academic freedoms after scientists subpoenaed

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/jun/04/bp-accused-attack-scientific-freedom



Former BP engineer Kurt Mix was charged last April with destroying evidence after he deleted text messages discussing the stricken well. Photograph: Pat Sullivan/AP


A pair of scientists have accused BP of an attack on academic freedom after the oil company successfully subpoenaed thousands of confidential emails related to research on the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster.

The accusation from oceanographers Richard Camilli and Christopher Reddy offered a rare glimpse into the behind-the-scenes legal manoeuvring by BP in the billion-dollar legal proceedings arising from the April 2010 blow-out of its well.

It also heightened fears among scientists of an assault on academic freedoms, following the legal campaign against a number of prominent climate scientists.

In an opinion piece in the Boston Globe, the scientists, from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, said they volunteered in the early days of the spill to deploy robotic technology to help BP and the Coast Guard assess how much oil was gushing from the well.