As reports surface that BP's most recent attempt to plug the leak at its Deepwater Horizon well has been successful, the public is taking a step back and attempting to grasp the full scope of the damage. New figures regarding the amount of oil spewing from the well suggest that the Deepwater Horizon disaster could be three times larger than the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska. BP now has the dubious distinction of being responsible for the worst oil-related disaster in American history.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) announced today that using three separate methods to analyze the amount of oil spilling into the Gulf, it has determined that anywhere from 12,000 to 19,000 barrels a day have been spewing from the well. Upon hearing this news, Congressman Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) accused BP of intentionally low-balling its leak estimates.
According to Congressman Markey, BP may have underestimated the amount of oil spilling into the Gulf in order avoid further fines and penalties. The Clean Water Act, passed in 1972, states that companies should pay fines between $1,000 and $3,000 for each barrel of oil spilled. Today's USGS numbers mean that BP could find itself paying three times what it would have if its estimates were accurate.
Despite the USGS estimates, some scientists have claimed that the magnitude of the Gulf oil spill is even more horrifying. Steve Wereley, associate professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue University, told reporters last week that he believed as many as 25,000 to 100,000 barrels of oil were spewing into the Gulf each day. Either way, its clear the devastation caused by this event will be unprecedented.
Now that, we hope, the leak has been sealed, the country's focus can turn to the clean-up effort. BP must be held responsible for the environmental and economic ruin this spill has wrought. We've already seen how the oil giant has attempted to limit its liability, and Congressman Markey's most recent allegations only further demonstrate that BP will do whatever it can to keep from being held accountable.
This disaster will go down in history as the worst America has ever seen. We must not let BP get away with pillaging our seas, without paying for their negligence.
For more information about the BP oil spill, visit www.blizzardlaw.com/BPlawsuits.
Follow Edward F. Blizzard on Twitter: www.twitter.com/druginjuryatty
Estimated by BP to hold 50 million barrels, the seam of oil has emptied as much as 740,000 barrels (one barrel is 42 gallons), or about 1.5 percent of the total. Because of the immense pressures of the earth's innards, geologists say, the deposit will completely unload into the Gulf unless the Deepwater Horizon well is capped."
If Macondo holds 50M barrels, and say a barrel stands 4', if you laid them end to end, they stretch 200M feet, divided by 5280 feet/mile is 37,878 miles, which is 1.5+ times around the 25,000 miles circumference of the Earth.
Hmmm
So the LEAST oil that is being released it 12,000 to 19,000 barrels.
It’s too bad we had to endure another unnecessary disaster to awaken us to the fact we need common sense regulation for yet another industry run amok.
While waiting for "success", oil has reached the Atlantic and will hit the Bahamas.
A scientist suggested: "constructing a long, floating boom between Key West and Cuba, in a V-shaped weir, the current can funnel the petroleum to a refinery. Other booms can be constructed to direct petroleum farther out in the Gulf toward the Straits of Florida for collection."
This emergency is as serious as war. When Pearl Harbor was attacked, within months a bomber was completed at one plant every 59 minutes.
Fortunately, what is needed now to fight the oil cataclysm and climate change is much simpler technology. However, far more effective action is required, without delay!
See the comment by this scientist: Worst Case Scenario, also, Moving Beyond Oil, both at: http://www.aesopinstitute.org
He also states: "The petroleum film will ...(cause) water temperature to rise accelerat(ing) Arctic Ocean melting.
…We may be watching (a) tipping point. This severe environmental catastrophe may turn into humanity’s greatest challenge."
If we are lucky, the capping of the gusher may postpone enough release of Methane to postpone an irreversible tipping point, which could conceivably end all human life on earth in a few years.
With 24/7 development, breakthrough alternatives to oil can emerge from the laboratory. With a few adventuresome, risk takers, they could begin to replace fossil fuels much faster than might be imagined.
Perhaps, in sufficient time to help avoid a tipping point!