Exxon claims this land in the name of.. all this oil Exxon spilled all over it

Reporters in Mayflower are being threatened with arrest by the local police there because, well, because that's what Exxon wants.

Local media in Mayflower have been hampered in their reporting by a pliant county sheriff's office who has been taking orders from ExxonMobil about who can enter the site of the spill. A no-fly zone was set up by the FAA after ExxonMobil requested it, and now news organizations must ask for the oil giants' permission before flying over the site.

On top of those restrictions, on Wednesday, a group of reporters were given permission to escort Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel on a tour of the spill site. Their tour, however, was cut short. Local reporter Michael Hibblen told Mother Jones that after being lead to holding area,

It was less than 90 seconds before suddenly the sheriff's deputies started yelling that all the media people had to leave, that ExxonMobil had decided they don't want you here, you have to leave. They even referred to it as "Exxon Media"…Some reporters were like, "Who made this decision? Who can we talk to?" The sheriff's deputies started saying, "You have to leave. You have 10 seconds to leave or you will be arrested."

We've seen this before, of course.  During the height of the BP disaster, reporters were repeatedly harangued and denied access to beaches by private security, by  sheriff's deputies, and by the United States Coast Guard.

The frustrating absurdity of this was best captured by Mother Jones' Mac McClelland's series of blog posts that spring and summer including this one where she was denied access out of concern for her "pores."

When I tell Barbara I am a reporter, she stalks off and says she's not talking to me, then comes back and hugs me and says she was just playing. I tell her I don't understand why I can't see Elmer's Island unless I'm escorted by BP. She tells me BP's in charge because "it's BP's oil."

"But it's not BP's land."

"But BP's liable if anything happens."

"So you're saying it's a safety precaution."

"Yeah! You don't want that oil gettin' into your pores."

"But there are tourists and residents walking around in it across the street."

"The mayor decides which beaches are closed."

So I call the Grand Isle police requesting a press liason, only to get routed to voicemail for Melanie with BP. I call the police back and ask why they gave me a number for BP; they blame the fire chief.

I reach the fire chief.  "Why did the police give me a number for BP?" I ask.

"That's the number they gave us."

"Who?"

"BP."