http://globalwarming.house.gov/spillcam
In fact, it looks worse.
Before, there appeared to be just two leaks. Now there are four, and the biggest appears bigger than the original leak. Over the last three hours I've watched them try several times to inject mud in an attempt to slow down or stop the flow of oil enough to allow them to inject cement into the well, but the flow hardly seems to slow down at all. Once the cloud of mud dissipates the flow looks unchanged.
The Exxon Valdez disaster was caused by 10.8 million gallons of oil. According to wikipedia the Gulf leak SO FAR is now estimated to be 20 times the Valdez leak, or 220 million gallons (or 5.238 million barrels), and some estimate it to be at around 50,000 barrels/day +- 30K. But, more recent estimates put the rate at a more believable 95,000 barrels/day.
Interestingly, "BP (formerly British Petroleum) is the operator and principal developer of the Macondo Prospect oil field, which was thought to hold as much as 50 million barrels (7.9×10^6 m3) of oil prior to the blowout, by BP's own estimate. " So, as much as 10% of the estimated capacity of the reservoir has escaped into the Gulf. At $78/bbl that reservoir is worth $4 Billion. If it isn't or can't be capped then it will take only 526 days to dump the entire reservoir into the Gulf.
BP made $14 Billion profit in 2009. It may take ALL of that profit and more to clean up the Gulf. Otherwise, it will take Nature more than a century to do the job.
BP says it will pay all "verified" costs, but it knows that in 2002 VP Chaney negotiated through Congress legislation which put a cap to its liability at only $75M in damages, which are currently estimated at well over 10 times that amount. A recent bill in Congress to revoke the cap and access BP $10B in fines to cover cleanup costs was killed by Republicans and BlueDog Democrats.
Do you want to see what's ahead for the Gulf, its residents, and its fishing industries? Just look at the condition of Prince William Sound just 20 years after the spill.
And politicians wonder why the citizens are mad as **** at politicians of BOTH parties.
Hopefully, this will encourage a greater focus and determination to bring Solar and other alternative forms of energy to market. We can't afford not to.
EDIT: Nearly 24 hours and BP is trying another attempt at the "Top Kill" after the failure of their first attempt, except that now the camera has stopped showing the leak itself and now seems to randomly pan around the site and focus on various objects. Occasionally one can catch a glimpse in the background of material gushing from the leak with the same vigor as before. The number of people monitoring the web camera view has put a real load on the streaming video.
EDIT: 5/29/10 - 18:40 CST
Now that we know that "Top Kill" didn't, here is the list of fauna that is affected:
Shorelines - Wetland - Brackish Water
Lightning Whelk
Blue Crab
Stone Crab
Fiddler Crab
American Alligator
Estuaries and Shallow Waters
Green Sea Turtle
Hawskbill Sea Turtle
Leatherback Sea Turtle
Loggerhead Sea Turtle
Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle
Southern Flounder
Eastern Brown Pelican
Pinfish
Pigfish
Gafftopsail Catfish
Hardhead Catfish
Atlantic Cutlassfish
Atlantic Croaker
Open Water
Striped Mullet
American Eel
Black Drum
Red Drum
Spotted Seatrout
Tarpon
Greater Amberjack
Florida Pompano
Common Snook
Crevalle Jack
Tripletail
Cobia
Special Structures - Reefs
Eastern Oyster
Red Snapper
Vermilion Snapper
Sheepshead
Lane Snapper
Flora also includes the photo plankton which feeds the zoo plankton, which feeds everything else.
Fauna also includes the zoo plankton, which feeds the minnow fish and crustaceans, which feed the larger fish.
The failure of "Top Kill" probably means the Total Kill of most life in the Gulf.
In fact, it looks worse.
Before, there appeared to be just two leaks. Now there are four, and the biggest appears bigger than the original leak. Over the last three hours I've watched them try several times to inject mud in an attempt to slow down or stop the flow of oil enough to allow them to inject cement into the well, but the flow hardly seems to slow down at all. Once the cloud of mud dissipates the flow looks unchanged.
The Exxon Valdez disaster was caused by 10.8 million gallons of oil. According to wikipedia the Gulf leak SO FAR is now estimated to be 20 times the Valdez leak, or 220 million gallons (or 5.238 million barrels), and some estimate it to be at around 50,000 barrels/day +- 30K. But, more recent estimates put the rate at a more believable 95,000 barrels/day.
Interestingly, "BP (formerly British Petroleum) is the operator and principal developer of the Macondo Prospect oil field, which was thought to hold as much as 50 million barrels (7.9×10^6 m3) of oil prior to the blowout, by BP's own estimate. " So, as much as 10% of the estimated capacity of the reservoir has escaped into the Gulf. At $78/bbl that reservoir is worth $4 Billion. If it isn't or can't be capped then it will take only 526 days to dump the entire reservoir into the Gulf.
BP made $14 Billion profit in 2009. It may take ALL of that profit and more to clean up the Gulf. Otherwise, it will take Nature more than a century to do the job.
BP says it will pay all "verified" costs, but it knows that in 2002 VP Chaney negotiated through Congress legislation which put a cap to its liability at only $75M in damages, which are currently estimated at well over 10 times that amount. A recent bill in Congress to revoke the cap and access BP $10B in fines to cover cleanup costs was killed by Republicans and BlueDog Democrats.
Do you want to see what's ahead for the Gulf, its residents, and its fishing industries? Just look at the condition of Prince William Sound just 20 years after the spill.
The spill remains the most costly maritime accident in the world. Volunteers rushed to Valdez to scrub otters and ducks with gentle soap, only to watch them die. Exxon papered the towns with money, hiring fishermen to wash oil off the beaches. The company soon declared the once-pristine area largely healed, even as its creatures continued to die.
Exxon also sent waves of lawyers to fight the court awards from the spill, finally last year winning a U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing the company to pay about ten cents for each dollar of the original award to fishermen and others affected by the spill.
Exxon also sent waves of lawyers to fight the court awards from the spill, finally last year winning a U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing the company to pay about ten cents for each dollar of the original award to fishermen and others affected by the spill.
And politicians wonder why the citizens are mad as **** at politicians of BOTH parties.
Hopefully, this will encourage a greater focus and determination to bring Solar and other alternative forms of energy to market. We can't afford not to.
EDIT: Nearly 24 hours and BP is trying another attempt at the "Top Kill" after the failure of their first attempt, except that now the camera has stopped showing the leak itself and now seems to randomly pan around the site and focus on various objects. Occasionally one can catch a glimpse in the background of material gushing from the leak with the same vigor as before. The number of people monitoring the web camera view has put a real load on the streaming video.
EDIT: 5/29/10 - 18:40 CST
Now that we know that "Top Kill" didn't, here is the list of fauna that is affected:
Shorelines - Wetland - Brackish Water
Lightning Whelk
Blue Crab
Stone Crab
Fiddler Crab
American Alligator
Estuaries and Shallow Waters
Green Sea Turtle
Hawskbill Sea Turtle
Leatherback Sea Turtle
Loggerhead Sea Turtle
Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle
Southern Flounder
Eastern Brown Pelican
Pinfish
Pigfish
Gafftopsail Catfish
Hardhead Catfish
Atlantic Cutlassfish
Atlantic Croaker
Open Water
Striped Mullet
American Eel
Black Drum
Red Drum
Spotted Seatrout
Tarpon
Greater Amberjack
Florida Pompano
Common Snook
Crevalle Jack
Tripletail
Cobia
Special Structures - Reefs
Eastern Oyster
Red Snapper
Vermilion Snapper
Sheepshead
Lane Snapper
Flora also includes the photo plankton which feeds the zoo plankton, which feeds everything else.
Fauna also includes the zoo plankton, which feeds the minnow fish and crustaceans, which feed the larger fish.
The failure of "Top Kill" probably means the Total Kill of most life in the Gulf.
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When its body penetrated 2/3rd its length into the flow it encountered something which repelled it and it backed out and quickly swam away. BTW, that expert estimated the flow, from both locations, to be about 125,000 barrels per day. It is also interesting to know that on April 16th BP applied for permission to "temporarily" abandon Deep Water Horizon because of the troubles it was having sinking the well. They were at 18,000 feet and needed to go to 20,000 feet but couldn't get their. Apparently the formation is unstable. This could explain a bigger leak 5 miles away.
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