Feds Double Gulf Oil-Leak Estimates
A new report finds that 30,000 barrels per day may be flowing into the ocean.
An oiled brown pelican tries to take flight from Barataria Bay while oil slicks float past on June 6 near Grand Isle, La. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
First BP said about 5,000 barrels of oil were leaking into the Gulf of Mexico each day. Then an independent panel revealed it was more likely to be between 12,000 and 19,000 barrels. On Thursday, a government group revised that to as much as 30,000.
A barrel is 42 gallons. Which means that 1.3 million gallons may be pouring in to the sea daily—the equivalent of two Olympic-sized swimming pools of thick crude.
That, according to The New York Times, is the equivalent of the Exxon Valdez disaster every eight to 10 days. The Times point out, understating it somewhat, that the revelation will "most likely increase suspicion among skeptics about how honest and forthcoming the oil company has been throughout the catastrophe."
The government panel, the Flow Rate Technical Group, which includes experts from various federal agencies, measured the rate before BP's recent scheme to cut the pipe in order to cap it. That action may have increased the flow further, so the panel plans to measure the rate again.
Beyond noting that BP had provided the information that the panel used to make its calculations, the company, via spokesperson Andrew Gowers, told the Times that "it’s their job to produce the estimate, and we have nothing to add."
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