What follows is an open letter from Humphrey and Stephens, key architects and developers of the GIS data system for the DWH incident. After laboring for 3 weeks, they were summarily let go, alledgidly by corporate BP IT managers. The letter is a good read of potential skullduggery behind the scenes. This morning I watched a reporter try to interview clean up crews on the beaches, and the BP “handlers” refused access on a public beach for “safety reasons”… This is all starting to stink at a higher level…
Deepwater Horizon GIS Data Concerns
From: Andrew Stephens and Devon Humphrey
Date: June 9, 2010
Subject: BP control of GIS data
To Whom It May Concern:
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This letter is being submitted to make it known that several key factors of the National Incident Management System (NIMS) and Incident Command Structure (ICS) are not being met in the Unified Command process of the BP Deepwater Horizon Incident. Specifically regarding the treatment of Geographic Information System (GIS) data, current configuration and process limit, or exclude completely, the flow of information about the extent and status of the disaster to government entities, emergency responders, and the public.
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Current GIS management processes indicate that BP is treating GIS data as proprietary information, and these data are currently being stored behind the BP corporate firewall. It is our understanding that public agencies, for example, The US Fish and Wildlife Service and The Louisiana National Guard, are literally submitting the only copy of agency field data, via wireless-enabled mobile GPS devices, directly to a BP GIS server behind the corporate firewall in Houston. Examples of these data are; dead bird and fish locations with photos, boom placement, engineered construction barriers, including dates, and other descriptive information and photos.
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On Friday May 28, 2010, after 21 days of service, and just hours after US Coast Guard Commandant, Admiral Robert Papp, complimented us on our work in the GIS lab, we were removed by our contractor, TRG. It is our understanding that this specific request was made by staff of the Houston-based IT department at BP. We got the original news from one of our teammates after we had gone for the day, and it took several hours to reach the owner of TRG, Roy Barrett. Mr. Barrett said to Mr. Stephens by phone, that several upper-level IT directors, and “higher level directors than I’ve ever dealt with” were on a conference call Friday May 28th. Mr. Barrett relayed that the IT group in Houston felt that we were a “problem”, and they asked him to ask us “not to return to the building”. In our opinion, this action was taken in response to our consistent application of NIMS protocols, and for our insisting that the FOSC and the SOSC be copied on all GIS data via simple architectural and procedural designs, per NIMS (see attachment diagram).
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Details, a timeline, and a layperson’s summary follow:
Initially, ICP Houma GIS staff and products were primarily serving US Coast Guard task forces on the water, over-flight, and oil-plume mapping. The GIS Unit quickly migrated away from the fragmented skills, flash drives and personal laptops, to a networked drive with a file Geodatabase, then to an Enterprise-class Spatial Database Engine and ArcGIS Server, all state of the art GIS tools. ArcGIS Mobile (field-to-server direct capability) figured prominently into the overall design, and by Friday the 28th of May, The Louisiana National Guard was posting data directly from the field via wireless-enabled GPS units to the BP GIS server in Houston. There are now over 150 layers of base map and operational data served to users of ArcGIS desktop, a browser-based Flex viewer (a critical Common Operating Picture (COP) element we planned and deployed). The system, which would have normally taken significant time to plan and implement, was fully operational in less than two weeks. Map requests were dominating the GIS staff time, so standardized map products were created on a schedule, each following a data deliverable to the team – for example, the twice-daily airborne SLAR imagery receivable was processed and delivered as a map product available from the document management team. Creating these processes while processing map requests, orienting a growing user-base to the GIS technology, staffing for the ever-increasing demand of functionality from incident command and the field was no small task.
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It is our understanding that at this time, BP controls all editing, contribution, and access to the GIS record for this ecological disaster, a GIS/spatial/map database of what and where features are in the response area, but as importantly when all these movements, features and activities took place. We are also aware of at least one agency, NOAA, who is not submitting data directly to BP, perhaps for NIMS or quality control concerns.
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As GIS Unit leaders, we also resisted the apparent takeover by BP’s IT department of the GIS server, originally ordered and approved by the ICP Houma FOSC, USCG Captain Stanton. On Thursday May 27, 2010, Mr. Stephens was made aware, by members of the GIS Unit, that we had no write access (editing capability) to the GIS database.
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It is our opinion that BP’s IT department was not, and is not currently, aware of the NIMS standards, guidance, and compliance protocols mandated by former President George W. Bush for incidents such as this BP oil spill.
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From the timeline:
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BP IT department activity:
We were now being deluged by requests and tasking from BP IT in Houston, and the staff they had flown in from all over the world. They stood-up the new server, and broke the links to the COP viewer on the first day, as we had predicted. BP’s IT department was clearly attempting to build a business unit, while the GIS Unit was responding to a dynamic emergency response.
What it meant for GIS operations and disaster response:
The GIS Unit was becoming distracted and time-occupied with requests and tasking from Houma BP IT staff, who were trying to learn and understand what we were doing. Houston-based BP IT staff were attempting to manage the database remotely, and task our team. The dichotomy of GIS personnel dedicated to emergency response, compared to BP’s IT needs and policies was clear. Friction was increasing, and BP IT staff were consistently breaking chain of command protocols required by NIMS.
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What this means to the non-GIS layperson:
…and on it goes. A good read. Making my blood boil too early on a good Sunday morning…