FutureMedia has finally issued a clarification on its claim that Professor Andrew Hopkins was nominated for the US Commission of Inquiry into the BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill as discussed at SafetyAtWorkBlog on 3 June 2010. It advises that it took its nomination story from comments by the “former Research Director of the US Chemical Safety Board” and apologises “for any confusion caused by the press release” but has not granted permission for the clarification to be republished here
Futuremedia has distributed the correction to the same recipients of the original media release for their consideration.
SafetyAtWorkBlog contacted the US Chemical Safety Board (CSB) directly, as Futuremedia did not divulge the source for the inaccurate information in its media release. Bill Hoyle has advised that he included Andrew Hopkins’ name in a list of 12 possible nominees “at an informal discussion of academics, scientists and government safety personnel”. The informal discussion was mentioned in a New York Times blog but did not include Hopkins’ name.
Bill Hoyle was the lead investigator for the CSB on the Texas City refinery explosion.
The Safety Institute of Australia has not included a clarification in the latest issue of its OHS Professional eNews but is now stating that Hopkins’ name was “floated” as a possible nominee to the Commission. It is also noted that some articles in the latest eNews now include a writer’s byline, an editorial omission that was pointed out by this blog last week.
UPDATE: 15 June 2010
On 14 June 2010, President Obama named the members of the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling Commission. They are:
- Frances G. Beinecke, President of the Natural Resources Defense Council
- Donald Boesch, President of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science
- Terry D. Garcia, Executive Vice President for Mission Programs for the National Geographic Society
- Cherry A. Murray, Dean of the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
- Frances Ulmer, Chancellor of the University of Alaska Anchorage
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