BP sticking with 5,000-barrels-per-day estimate for Gulf oil spill
Andrea Mitchell had BP spokesperson Bob Dudley on to give their side of how things were going with the oil gusher spill in the Gulf. As expected, Dudley disputed current estimates of how much oil is actually entering the ocean. Her patience seemed to have worn thin by this point in the interview so Mitchell challenged Dudley, with reports of a much larger spill indicated by video analysis of the oil spewing into the bottom of the ocean, and also satellite imagery of the Gulf. As expected Dudley wouldn't budge an inch.
The issue has been downplayed by both BP and the government agency NOAA, but many experts have called into question the official estimates from the very beginning. NY Times:
The issue of how fast the well is leaking has been murky from the beginning. For several days after the April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig, the government and BP claimed that the well on the ocean floor was leaking about 1,000 barrels a day.
A small organization called SkyTruth, which uses satellite images to monitor environmental problems, published an estimate on April 27 suggesting that the flow rate had to be at least 5,000 barrels a day, and probably several times that.
The following day, the government — over public objections from BP — raised its estimate to 5,000 barrels a day. A barrel is 42 gallons, so the estimate works out to 210,000 gallons per day.
BP later acknowledged to Congress that the worst case, if the leak accelerated, would be 60,000 barrels a day, a flow rate that would dump a plume the size of the Exxon Valdez spill into the gulf every four days. BP’s chief executive, Tony Hayward, has estimated that the reservoir tapped by the out-of-control well holds at least 50 million barrels of oil.
John Amos gives a warning for what may lay ahead.
“If we are systematically underestimating the rate that’s being spilled, and we design a response capability based on that underestimate, then the next time we have an event of this magnitude, we are doomed to fail again,” said John Amos, the president of SkyTruth. “So it’s really important to get this number right.”
Has this news lowered the real estate value of ocean front property yet? I definitely wouldn't be interested in any such property within a thousand miles of the spill.
let the oceans fill up with oil, and then just drill for water?
Mississippi's Repug Gov., Haley Barbour doesn't believe in oil spills.
Barbour beats them all at down-playing the issue.
I pledge allegiance to the Constitution of the United States of America, and to the republic which it established, one nation from many peoples, promising liberty and justice for all
" I say, I say, boy, all y'all come down and play on the Redneck Riviera where all the sea food comes well oiled, and the politicians do, too."
he owned a DC lobbying firm. He lobbied for the tobacco and oil industries mostly.
Also was head of the RNC.
He's a dirtbag, and that's being kind.
Vote GOP and move forward to the 18th Century.
how come there is only video of one?
Hasa Diga Eebowai
5000 barrels a day isn't a disaster?
anyone with the intelligence of Sarah Palin can figure out a spill the size of the state of Alabama is dumping more than 5,000 barrels a day. These execs are in serious CYA mode.
BP's COO Doug Suttles, Ken Salazar, and the Coast Guard Rear Admiral (forget her name) were on C-SPAN.
When asked about the latest attempt to stem the flow, Suttles said he was not involved in the "technical" aspects of controlling the gusher.
Whaaa...?
"When profit comes up against morality, it's rare that profit loses."~Shirley Chisholm
their lawyers. I smell congressional hearings. Then you'll really see the CYA statements fly. It will make last weeks spectacle look like nothing.
And lawyers are oily critters...
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
They don't pretend to be anything that they are not. Can you see a group of them now, off camera, but in front of their clients. They're using hand signals and cue cards to tell them what to say or when to shut up. Knowing what to say and when to shut up--that's what gets you the big bucks.
BP has no clue how to stop the leak. Nobody does.
The 'containment dome', the 'top hat', the 'stick-a-bendy-straw-in-the-gushing-pipe' - these are more PR than anything. Nothing like this spill has ever happened at this depth, in such cold temperatures.
The fixes they're trying are EXPERIMENTS - at best.
The only fucking thing that MIGHT work is a relief well that could take 6 months or more to complete. That means drilling down more than a mile under the sea floor to hit a target about 18 inches across.
This could take several tries - AND IT STILL MAY NOT WORK. Because nobody's ever had to try this at these depths.
This fucking spill could be the Exxon Valdez x 20, or 30, or 50. That's how bad this could get. Makes that backup blowout preventer BP declined to use (as it is required to in the North Sea and elsewhere) look awfully cheap.
In a Nation where so many believe that Sarah Palin has any talent or intellect, and that recent President Ted Bundy actually did a good job, why not try and bullshit us?
I thought it was Al...
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
Maybe he meant Ted.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXPXVLyNIJQ
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
Egregious mistake.
I say it again, wait till a Hurricane hits that zone. When that shit hits land, people will get sick. Not to mention wiping out any ag/produce in the region. Notice I said region. Because it will devastate entire regions.
What is your conceptual, continuity?
something large, heavy and flat, dropped on the wellhead, might solve the issue,
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
What they used the first time worked. If all they wanted to do was stop the leak. But, they wanted the oil too. So, they scrapped it.
The head froze. They couldn't get the oil up. So, what do they do?
They pull the whole thing off. They could have left it in place, until they figured out something else. But Nooooooooooooo.
A giant flat object would just make it worse. The we'd have leaks at both ends.
What is your conceptual, continuity?
It's just a funnel and once hydrates plugged the neck the leak just flowed out the bottom. It's just a temporary fix even if they get it to work that will give time to drill a relief well. The kind of pressure in a well wouldn't be contained by anything less than a mountain. Maybe not even then.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
Sank into the seabed. I suppose it would still leak to an extent. But not like it is right now.
What is your conceptual, continuity?
He's large, heavy, and fat. Two out of three.
Maybe Dick Cheney.
Who is the heroin addicted looking Barbee Doll that keeps appearing on posts hocking ipads and Chia Pets? Is this for real or a joke? I can't figure it out.
I pump 4500 gallons an hour in my boat fuel tank with a two inches hose and they only dump 9000 gallons an hour with 21 inches pipe with 2000 pounds pressure.Come on we are not idiots.
Do you pump mud through one end of the tank, and then suck that mud back up to make sure you haven't hit a gas pocket?
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
No, but I cry when they me the bill.
have verified for NPR that the size of the leak is WAAAAAY more than present estimates. Wouldn't be hard to measure if you KNOW the size of the pipe. Just stop-frame the underwater video and measure the volume that's visible and moving by parts-of-a-second... then do the math to measure volume second-by-second.
That's about right for a copy that is not willing to step up and take responsible for the catastrophic damage they have caused to Our Gulf Coast. At every turn they have tried to downplay and lessen the severity of this catastrophe.
Let's face it the amount of oil being released into the environment is probably around 5 to 10 times the amount that is being quoted. What we need is the truth to be told so we know what we are up against.
FIRST they said it wasn't leaking at all -- that it was just residual oil from the explosion and fire. About two days later, THEN they admitted it was leaking 1,000 bbl/day. It's been "wishful thinking" estimates all along. Whatever happened, in planning for and dealing with emergencies, the concept of "plan for the worst while hoping for the best"? The industry furnished the kool-aid, and sadly, the government gladly partook of it. To this day, it still sounds like BP's PR department is writing the scripts for the Coast Guard people talking in front of cameras.
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