BP Blog Finds Upbeat Side of Oil Spill

(June 24) -- If images of gushing oil, fouled beaches and pelicans coated in crude get too depressing, BP may have just the antidote.

The company's blog has proved adept at finding the positive, hopeful side of America's worst-ever oil disaster. In its reports, BP is congratulated for its straight talk, being able to see the spill with your own eyes is a "privilege," and one of the big causes of complaints is boat owners unable to sell their services to the oil giant.

In one entry, BP reporter Paula Kolmar describes the cleanup operation as a "mesmerising ballet at sea."

"Miss Jasmine, the most experienced local shrimping vessel, beautifully painted with a colourful dragon streaming along her sides, pulled the folded boom in place," the blog reads. "With barely a pause, the two boats moved apart at the same speed, spreading the boom into a v-shape just like birds form in the sky."

BP's public relations response to the spill so far has been plagued by missteps, including company CEO Tony Hayward saying "I'd like my life back" and downplaying the scale of the disaster by saying that the Gulf of Mexico is "a very big ocean."

The disaster began April 20, when the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded, rupturing the oil well below. Eleven workers were killed in the explosion, which left oil spewing into the water.

Marylee Orr, executive director of the Louisiana Environmental Action Network, said the BP blog isn't an accurate representation of the reality of dealing with the oil spill.

"I find it strange that they'd describe it as like a ballet because to us it looks like a nightmare," Orr told AOL News. "Everything is at peril."

The upbeat reportage on the blog highlights the positives of the cleanup and extols the stoic, constructive attitude of all the workers involved. "These men don't want to be heroes, complainers or blamers," one blog entry reads. "They want one simple thing: to put their backs to Alabama and their eyes to the water and do what needs to be done."

Another entry describes an information center where most of the people complaining are just upset that BP isn't renting their particular services at that time.

Orr said that the complaints she's dealing with are usually related to health problems from exposure to the cleanup.

"We're getting calls dealing with air quality issues, fishermen getting sick," Orr said. "They're suffering nausea and vomiting."

In another blog entry, a taxi driver identified only as Paul says he empathizes with BP's image problems and says he likes to follow the facts.

"If I would try to spin it one way or the other, I'd run the risk of losing my credibility and offending somebody at the same time," Paul said. "That's why I see a similarity between how you and I both have to operate. Just stick to the facts and you can't go wrong."