USCG...The newest weapon in PR

Ok, let me start by saying I have nothing against the United States Coast Guard (USCG). Every day they put their lives on the line to save people in dire need. I have utmost respect for the guys in the choppers and the swimmers in the water. This post is not about them, nor is it my intent to disrespect them in any way.

I do, however, question the apparently cozy relationship their higher up's have with BP's PR agency - O'brien's Response Management. But I am getting ahead of myself, let me give you a little background.

BP, like all good corporate behemoths, is not actually cleaning up the gulf. They have have delegated that mission to a company called O'Brien's Response Management (O'BrienRM). O'Brien's is handling all the messy stuff by farming out the waste management contractors, bird nest stomping contractors, and lets not forget the "cover the oil on the beach with a layer of sand" contractors as well.

But wait! O'Brien's does much more than that. You see, O'Brien's definition of response management is more than just cleaning up after a catastrophe..It's about saving a company's reputation after said catastrophe. To quote their own website....

”O'Brien's Response Management (O'Brien'sRM) is the leading provider of crisis and emergency response services. Founded in the early 1980s, O'Brien's has grown organically and through acquisition so that it now offers the most complete suite of products and services in the emergency management field. Our focus is resilience. We understand resilience as the ultimate measure of an organization and community's strength. It's ability to endure the worst, to recover and resume normal life and activities is the most important attribute of a strong company, agency, organization or community. "

If that's not enough to convince you of where O'Brien's heart (if they had one) is ...then how about this one out of O'Brien's own internal newsletter..

“Media coverage and public interest is in a way like a giant eye or radar sweeping the overall landscape. When it lights on something of high interest such as this spill, anything related to the topic of the day becomes of additional interest for a time. That means any spill, any accident or incident involving tanker cargos or quantities of vessel fuel, will be incorporated into an overall theme of environmental risk from the use of oil. While we are aware that our clients for the most part place an extraordinary emphasis on safe and responsible operations, this heightened sensitivity represents a higher than normal risk of reputation damage. "

Ok, so they are about PR...nothing new here..Lots of companies do this. Where's the USCG tie in?..Well since you asked...

"The history of the O'Brien's name started back in the early 80's when founder Jim O'Brien retired as an officer with the United States Coast Guard. Jim formed his own company, O'Brien Oil Pollution Service, otherwise known as "OOPS", in Slidell, Louisiana."

(You gotta love the name OOPS..I mean really)

Well Jim didn't stop there. Seems quite a few officers of O'Brien's Response Management are either ex-Coast Guard or ex-Navy (primarily media relations specialists). In fact they just recently hired yet another former coast guarder Rear Admiral Steve Branham (former Coast Guard's Chief of Media Relations) as their Executive Vice President of Government Services.

Just to be fair, O'Brien's does not just have BP as a client. Other clients include:

Marathon
ExxonMobil
Anadarko
Kinder Morgan
ConocoPhillips
Chevron
BHP Billiton
Repsol
Transocean ... Ya, the rig guys

If that's still not enough to raise your eyebrow then maybe this will. O'Brien's has another division called PIERS systems. PIERS systems is a software company. They produce an incident management system that, well, I will let them tell you in their own words...

"The PIER System is an all-in-one, web-based solution for crisis communications management, mass notification, public and media relations, employee communications, business continuity and more."

Deepwaterhorizonresponse.com the original "official" gulf catastrophe website is PIERS based. Not only the national response site, but all the little ones as well also run on PIERS. In fact they are kinda proud of it!..

“PIER Systems has worked closely with the US Coast Guard for over nine years. All Coast Guard public affairs operations use PIER for routine daily communication as well as for major events such as Hurricane Katrina and the Gulf Spill. Similarly, PIER has also worked with BP for over 8 years providing multiple PIER sites for crisis and public communication purposes in many locations throughout the world “ . The others response sites are also run on PIERS (alabamagulfresponse.com, louisianagulfresponse.com, mississippigulfresponse.com and floridagulfresponse.com )"

And one last bit of info for all you conspiracy theorists out there....The primary share holder of SEACOR (O'Brien's parent company) is Black Rock Holdings. The same guys who own most of BP's stock....But that, I will save for another post.