Experts: Oil May Be Leaking at Rate of 25,000 Barrels a Day in Gulf

[KansasVoter]

WASHINGTON—The Gulf of Mexico oil spill could be leaking at a rate of 25,000 barrels a day, five times the government's current estimate, industry experts say.

Basing their calculations on government data and standard industry measurement tools, the experts said the Gulf spill may already rival the historic 1969 Santa Barbara, Calif., and 1989 Exxon Valdez disasters.

Ian MacDonald, professor of oceanography at Florida State University who specializes in tracking ocean oil seeps from satellite imagery, said there may already be more than 9 million gallons of oil floating in the Gulf now, based on his estimate of a 25,000 barrel-a-day leak rate. That's compared to 12 million gallons spilled in the Valdez accident.

<snip>

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703871904575216382160623498.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsTop

[Duer 157099]

1. Why don't we have cleanup tankers, like dredgers

they suck the top layer off the ocean, it goes into a tank with a spigot on the bottom so that the water is released back into the ocean?

Why don't they have/use something like that????

[Brother Buzz]

17. There are oil skimmers operating out there now

It's the shear size of this mess that has overwhelmed resources; visualize mowing a 160 acre pasture or maybe a full size golf course including out of bounds area with an 16 inch power mower.

[gristy]

2. So when will the media stop calling it a "leak"?

I'm not holding my breath.

[Xipe Totec]

3. five times the government's current estimate

25 times the estimate from three days ago.

and five days ago they claimed there was no leak...

At 25,000 barrels per day, and the estimated time to cap the well (90 days), that's 2.25 million barrels of oil.

The exxon Valdez spill was 10.4 million, in a much more confined area.

We're looking at an ecological disaster that will dwarf the Exxon Valdez.

[rzemanfl]

7. Not sure of your math, barrels v. gallons. n/t

[Xipe Totec]

8. Gallons! Doh! You are right!

Exxon Valdez was 250,000 barrels.

That is exactly the same ammount.

Thanks for the correction!

[rzemanfl]

9. 42 gallons to a barrel of crude. I live on the Gulf Coast

near Tampa. I told my wife if the oil starts coming ashore here I am going to stop making the house payments and start planning to get out of here. Oil on the beaches would be the death blow to the already reeling local economy.

[Xipe Totec]

11. I know the conversion factor; I missed the swich in units

From the Exxon Valdez article.

I should know better; this is a pic of my father at work:

[rzemanfl]

12. So am I right that this about a million gallons a day? n/t

[Xipe Totec]

13. 1.2 million gallons per day

25,000 barrels * 48 gallons/barrel = 1,200,000 galons per day.

[rzemanfl]

14. I just was at a website out of Ft. Walton Beach that missed the

gallons v. barrels distinction. Unfortunately, I think we will all learn the difference over the coming days and weeks. I googled what a barrel of crude was and got 42 not 48.

[Xipe Totec]

15. Imperial vs US gallons nt

[rzemanfl]

16. I can't get my head around the magnitude of these numbers

anyway. TMI. My primary concern is how close this shit will get to my house.

[Webster Green]

4. Not good.

Fuck! This is going to be really horrible.

[brentspeak]

5. America's Chernobyl, courtesy of Bush, every Republican, and every corporate Democrat

who ever happily accepted legal bribes from the oil industry to allow it to "self-regulate" itself.

[depakid]

10. That's exactly right- and that's exactly how the administraion had better frame it

They didn't do so effectively with the financial crisis (as FDR did)- and it cost the party (and everyone else) support, allowing Republicans to escape a lot of blame, and claw back from the fringe- where they belong.

[chill_wind]

18. +1000

[riskpeace]

19. I wonder to what extent the decision to expand drilling

tied the administration's hands both politically and operationally.

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.