(Correction: An earlier version of this article reported on video that purported to show a private party held by oil company Shell for its Arctic drilling launch. Shell sent an email that said it did not host or participate in the alleged event, and a spokeswoman for the company said it was likely a hoax. TheStreet regrets the error.)
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- A video purporting to show a private kickoff event for Royal Dutch Shell's(RDS.A.) long-awaited Arctic deepwater drilling that went viral on the Internet is now reported to be a hoax. A video reportedly recorded by Occupy Wall Street protestor Logan Price and reported by Gothamist shows a miniature oil rig gushing uncontrollably on a woman's dress after the model malfunctioned, with the surprised victim backing away as several event hosts rushed to help, and rushed at the protestor filming the incident on his phone.
"Recently groups that oppose Shell's plans in offshore Alaska have posted a video that purport to show Shell employees at an event at the Seattle Space Needle. Shell did not host, nor participate in an event at the Space Needle and the video does not involve Shell or any of its employees. We continue to focus on a safe exploration season in 2012," Shell wrote in an email. "I think it was just a, like you said, like a hoax," Kayla Macke, a Shell spokeswoman, said in a phone call. Gothamist originally posted a story on the alleged Shell party, but later updated the story to say the video was a hoax. Shell's plans to drill in a portion of the Arctic previously unopened has been in the works for years, and in fact, was originally scheduled to launch in summer 2010, just after the massive BP(BP) Macondo oil spill struck the Gulf of Mexico. The federal government imposed a drilling moratorium in May 2010, delaying any new drilling permits because of BP's mess. Shell's top North American executive, Marvin Odum, and several other Big Oil CEOs, including Exxon Mobil's(XOM) Rex Tillerson and Chevron's(CVX) John Watson were grilled on Capitol Hill about outdated, carbon copy oil spill response plans in the aftermath of the BP Macondo disaster, and failed to make a winning case to prevent the moratorium. Environmental groups have fought Shell's plans every step of the way. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) -- the post-BP oil spill Interior Department unit overseeing deepwater drilling -- provided the initial go ahead for Shell's revised exploration plan for the Beaufort Sea last August, which calls for drilling four wells in shallow water starting in July 2012. Shell's Beaufort and Chukchi Sea pla! ns inclu de drilling up to four wells over two years in the Beaufort Sea and up to six wells over two years in the Chukchi Sea, according to information on Shell's website. "These programs will be executed using up to two drill ships, one potentially in each sea; allowing Shell to begin exploring its Alaska prospects in parallel after five years of delay." It was the drill ships, Kulluk and Noble, that were use by the video hoax as the subject for the launch party. Shell goes on to note on its Web site that the company, "plans to employ world-class technology and experience to ensure a safe, environmentally responsible Arctic exploration program." -- Written by Joe Deaux in New York. >Contact by Email. >To order reprints of this article, click here: Reprints
"Two Bloody Thumbs Up!" - Cult Movies Magazine - Take a wild ride deep into the remote Appalachian mountains of North Carolina in search of Bigfoot. DJ Galloway, journalist and former Miami Herald reporter, leads an investigation of a serge of Bigfoot sightings and animal killings that are being reported throughout the community of Transylvania County, North Carolina. This investigation and the trail of discovery that follow, provides positive proof that something strange is happening in this remote region. WINNER! New York International Film Festival - Best Narrative Feature "Deliverance Meets the Blair Witch Project" - Assemblyman Joe Neal, Hopkins, SC "This ain't no hoax, I've seen the beast!" - Sheriff Big Jake Galloway "It was tall, wooly, black and big!" - Romane Johnson, Indian Camp Mountain Resident NOW Available on DVD - The Long way Home: A Bigfoot Story - LOADED with Bonus Features, Cat#U669, Go to www.UFOTV.com. Video Rating: 0 / 5
Two of the people linked to an expansive hoax involving Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o attended the same Antelope Valley high school, according to the Southern California woman whose photos were used in the ruse. Diane O'Meara, who now works in marketing at STN Media Group in Torrance, spoke to NBC's "Today" about the incident in a segment that aired Tuesday. In the segment, she said she met the supposed hoaxer, Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, in high school but added that the two were not friends. Paraclete High football coach Norm Dahlia confirmed to The Times that Tuiasosopo played quarterback for the Lancaster school in 2007. A Deadspin.com report published last week first revealed the hoax but did not name O'Meara. The report claims that Tuiasosopo used photos of a girl he met at Paraclete High School in Lancaster as part of a Twitter account for a "Lennay Kekua," a fake woman whom he connected with Te'o. "My name is not Lennay Kek...
After Iran announced last week that it had launched a monkey into space, web sleuths compared before and after photos of the furry astronaut and cried hoax. They claimed the monkey that made public appearances after the space flight in a bespoke suit looked nothing like the animal that had been shot into space, which seemed to have lighter fur and a mole above its eye. Did a monkey die in flight, asked the conspiracy theorists? Or did no primate ever leave the ground? Now the Iranian space agency has stepped forward to clear up any confusion. According to space official Mohammad Ebrahimi, it's true that the pictures don't match, and that they show two different monkeys. But Ebrahimi said that's not because of a hoax – it's because the pre-flight photo of a light-furred monkey was actually an archival photo and not a picture of the actual animal, Pishgam, who rode the rocket. According to the Iranians, Pishgam took a 20-minute flight and returned to earth s...
COLLEGE PLACE, Wash. - College Place Police are investigating an apparent bomb threat hoax at Walmart over the weekend. Saturday night, police say the College Place Walmart called 911, reporting a bomb threat the store received, set to go off at 6:19 on Sunday morning. Officers and the College Place Fire Department arrived on scene and evacuated the store just before 1 AM that night. Officers and firefighters stayed there overnight blocking the doors, and didn't allow customers or employees back in until 7 AM. Police say 6:19 came and went, but nothing exploded, no one got hurt, and they couldn't find any sort of explosive device, leading officers to believe the incident was an apparent hoax. Police say they don't know who made the threat, and while they're looking into leads, they don't have any potential suspects yet. Walmart returned to business as usual after 7 am on Sunday. Read More @ Source Sonic CD 510 (Earlies...
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