-------- Original Message --------
Subject: FW: Letter on BP Oil Spill GIS Appears, Disappears
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 2010 09:17:14 -0400
TO: NWCG GIS Task Group
FYI
http://www.scientificblogging.com/chatter_box/bp_gis_and_mysterious_vanishing_open_letter
http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/54563
Introduction:
Andrew Stephens and Devon Humphrey, both Geographic Information Systems
(GIS) professionals with 40 years combined GIS experience, were the
primary architects of the GIS Unit and lab at Incident Command Post
(ICP) Houma. Mr. Stephens has 20 years GIS experience, teaching GIS to
organizations worldwide, and is an expert in GIS deployment, start-up,
training and workflow design. Mr. Humphrey has 20 years background in
Oil Spill GIS with Texas General Land Office, where he was on the
development team of an award-winning oil spill GIS. He has also been an
instructor since 1994 at the National Spill Control School at Texas A&M
University, Corpus Christi. The ‘Spill School’ is named in the Oil
Pollution Act of 1990.
**----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**
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:
Executive Summary
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.
GIS is essential to the oil spill response effort and to the recovery of
public resources. Almost every map and geographic display representing
the Deepwater Horizon Incident is sourced by GIS data. 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.
State Emergency Operation Center (EOC) staff, Parish EOC staff, and
other Emergency Responders and Recovery Specialists do not have access
to these GIS datasets, contrary to all NIMS guidance, protocols and
principles.
Per NIMS, redundancy of incident information is to be managed jointly,
and fully accessible by the Federal On Scene Coordinator (FOSC), the
State On Scene Coordinator (SOSC), and the Responsible Party. Technology
allows implementation of this design to occur instantaneously and
automatically (see attached diagram). The intent of this letter is to
inform The President, the National Incident Commander, the FOSC, the
SOSC, and the public, of the need to establish and enforce NIMS
compliant access policies over all Deepwater Horizon oil spill GIS data.
The Geospatial Intelligence Officer (GIO) and the GIS Unit Leader, who
proposed NIMS-compliant GIS architecture to Unified Command, and
supported access to these GIS data, have been removed from the Houma ICP
by BP IT department managers.
