Sunday, May 9, 2010

BP / Gulf Oil Spill -How Big Is It? ~SkyTruth
~Quite a lot bigger than the estimate being uncritically quoted throughout the media of 210,000 gallons (5,000 barrels) per day. That was the last "official" estimate made by NOAA and accepted by the Coast Guard back on April 29 (see timeline below). Before that, the Coast Guard estimates ranged from 336,000 gallons (8,000 barrels) per day, to zero, to 42,000 gallons (1,000 barrels) per day. None of these estimates has been publicly explained or substantiated. And on May 1, the Coast Guard and NOAA stopped trying to estimate the spill rate, with Admiral Thad Allen saying, "Any exact estimate is probably impossible at this time." But the media continues to report that oil is leaking into the Gulf at 5,000 barrels per day.
~MODIS/Aqua satellite image taken May 9, 2010. Clouds, haze, and turbidity again may be obscuring portions of the slick; observable slick and sheen covers 4,384 square miles (11,355 km2). Thicker, fresh-looking oil is apparent in the vicinity of the leaking well, and as on yesterday's imagery, appears to be entrained in a counterclockwise gyre. ~SkyTruth Flikr

Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Announces Further Recreational and Commercial Fishing Closure
~LDWF Secretary Robert Barham announced the closure of both recreational and commercial fishing in the state territorial seas, and the bordering beaches, extending from the eastern shore of South Pass of the Mississippi River westward to the eastern portion of Atchafalaya Bay at Point au Fer at 91 degrees 20 minutes 44 seconds west longitude.
This closure will take place at 6 pm, tonight, May 9, 2010.

LDWF Grand Isle Research Lab Set as a Staging Ground for Oil Spill Response

Governor's Office of HSEP

Attorneys General Reach Agreement on Oil Spill

Florida Class Action Filed in BP Oil Spill Disaster

Florida counties find oil bureaucracy daunting

Vietnamese, Cambodian fishermen among hardest hit by BP oil spill
“I don’t see how in good conscience BP could ask immigrants who do not speak English to sign away their rights with a contract written only in English, particularly for work as dangerous as this,” said Spencer Aronfeld.

BP has long record of legal, ethical violations

Are industry and regulators prepared for an oil spill in Alaska’s Arctic?

2 comments:

K. said...

The 5k/day estimate is a week old. I'm no expert, but simple logic tells that continued upward pressure will widen the opening and increase the flow.

I don't know if Gov. BJ has the right idea or not, but the state of Louisiana can't handle what he wants to do. We all know who will step forward and claim jurisdiction over a job like that, and its name begins with ACE...

Editilla said...

I've thought of that too.
I'm pretty sure the Corps doesn't have nearly the control over the Coast as the State of Louisiana.
However, the Corps must be the ones working these Diversions they are doing into the Marshland from the River.
Perhaps that will be where they get their wedge.