Five Unanswered Questions About the Gulf Spill
More than 100 days after the BP oil-spill disater began, things are finally looking up. But scientists and government officials still have much to learn about the accident and its long-term impact.
A boat cuts a path through a sheet of oil off the Louisiana coast.For over a month, scientists had been estimating that the well was spilling 35,000 to 60,000 barrels of oil per day, meaning that between 3 million and 5 million barrels of oil would have been released over the course of the spill, up to when the well was finally capped on July 15.
Late Monday, federal scientists announced what they called the most precise estimate yet of the spill: nearly 5 million barrels. The figure confirms that the BP spill is the largest release of oil into marine waters. As more data on the well becomes available, the government’s team of scientists will continue to refine this estimate.
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