It's Worse Than You Think

[Joanne98]

Sun May 02, 2010 at 06:00:02 AM PDT
It's easy to be pro-drilling. All it requires is a little chanting, a little pretending that somehow this activity can reverse a yawning oil deficit that's been growing since 1970, a little chest-thumping conceit that there's something patriotic or admirable about risking other people's homes, livelihoods, and lives because it pisses off the "tree huggers." All it takes is a little ignorance and a belief that any risk is worth a dime at the pumps. All it takes at turning a blind eye to the real level of danger involved.

Which is going to get a lot harder after this week.

When Deepwater Horizon exploded on April 20, attention was first focused, and quite rightly, on the 11 workers missing, all of whom are now presumed to have died either directly in the massive fireball that engulfed the ship or somewhere in the choppy oil-stained waters. The well they had been working on -- which was in the process of being "capped" with concrete when the explosion occurred -- wasn't considered a high risk for leakage. The smear of oil on the ocean's surface after the explosion was thought to be mostly from the fuel that had been carried by the drilling ship.

Rear Adm. Landry said no oil appeared to be leaking from a well head at the ocean floor, nor was any leaking at the water's surface. But she said crews were closely monitoring the rig for any more crude that might spill out.,

About half a dozen boats were using booms to trap the thin sheen, which extended about seven miles north of the rig site. There was no sign of wildlife being affected; the Louisiana coast is about 50 miles away.

As the search for those missing workers was sadly ended, the slick around the former drill site continued to grow. It was soon clear that the initial hopes that the sinking of the drilling ship and collapse of the well structures would not lead to a prolonged leak were unfounded. What started out as a small slick directly around the drill site enlarged rapidly.

"We thought what we were dealing with as of yesterday was a surface residual (oil) from the mobile offshore drilling unit," Landry said. "In addition to that is oil emanating from the well. It is a big change from yesterday ... This is a very serious spill, absolutely."

A robotic camera has determined a pipe leading from the well is leaking oil at an estimated rate of 1,000 barrels — or about 42,000 gallons a day, reports CBS News correspondent Don Teague. That's still much less than the worst-case scenario.

By comparison, Exxon Valdez spilled 11 million gallons in Alaska's Prince William Sound in 1989 — the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

That rate was certainly bad enough. The press dutifully reported this number (myself included). But within two days there was evidence that the 1,000 barrels a day didn't match up with the the actual size of the leak.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/5/2/862592/-Its-Worse-Than-You-Think