That a major corporation facing fines and penalties based on the amount of oil released would distort and stall, but McClatchy reports that Gulf oil flow was 12 times more than feds’ original estimate

WASHINGTON — As BP neared a fix that’s expected to kill for good the runaway well that’s wreaked economic and environmental catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico, the government Monday said that 10 to 12 times the amount of oil had been flowing from the well than it originally thought.

New estimates released Monday by a government-led team of scientists found that as much as 62,000 barrels of oil were leaking from the well each day at its peak — far beyond the initial estimate of 5,000 barrels a day and more in line with what scientists told McClatchy it was.

The new estimates raise questions about whether the early response ever anticipated the disaster’s actual size and scope. The well gushed an estimated 4.9 million barrels for nearly three months before BP put in place a temporary cap 18 days ago.

The government now estimates that 53,000 barrels were leaking each day before BP installed the cap. Only 800,000 barrels — about 16 percent of the total — was captured before flowing into the ocean.

Wow, you don’t think this was why they blocked every effort to actually measure the flow and didn’t provide access to video of the spill until they were threatened with Congressional action? It must have been a misplaced decimal point, because everyone knows how hard it is to put them where they belong. [/snark – in case the casual visitor was unsure]

Oh, a minor correction – the original Coast Guard estimate was 8,000 barrels, which BP reduced to 1,000, and then admitted to the possibility of 5,000 barrels. The Unified Command accepted this bogus number because BP had the “expertise” in the area of oil drilling.

Update: after doing some simple math I noticed that these number coincide with the estimate on the Leak Meter labeled “BP (Worst Case)”.

On today’s All Things Considered they had two segments on deflation.

First they had a background piece. Examining The Risks Of Deflation and then an interview with St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard, who sees deflation as a very real possibility.

Raw Story reports on former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan’s appearance on Meet the Press:

“I am very much in favor of tax cuts but not with borrowed money,” Greenspan said during an appearance on NBC.

“The problem that we’ve gotten into in recent years is that spending programs with borrowed money, tax cuts with borrowed money, and at the end of the day that proves disastrous and my view is I don’t think we can play subtle policy here,” said Greenspan.

“You don’t agree with Republican leaders who say tax cuts pay for themselves?” asked NBC’s David Gregory.

“They do not,” Greenspan replied firmly.

The only problem with Social Security is that its surplus was used for the Bush tax cuts.

From Weather Underground

Cinco Bayou – Pocahontas Dr., Fort Walton Beach, Florida (PWS)
Updated: 12:03 PM CDT on August 2, 2010
Mostly Cloudy
91.6 °F [33.1 °C]
Mostly Cloudy
Humidity: 80%
Dew Point: 85 °F
Wind: 0.0 mph
Wind Gust: 0.0 mph
Pressure: 29.96 in (Falling)
Heat Index: 119 °F [48.3 °C]
Visibility: 10.0 miles
UV: 7 out of 16
Pollen: 3.90 out of 12
Clouds:
Scattered Clouds 2500 ft
Mostly Cloudy 10000 ft
(Above Ground Level)
Elevation: 16 ft

Excessive heat warning in effect from noon today to 6 PM CDT this evening…

Position: 13.6N 45.1W [10 PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: West-Northwest [285°] near 23 mph [37 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 35 mph [55 kph].
Wind Gusts: 45 mph [70 kph].
Minimum central pressure: 1007 mb ↑.

It is about 1090 miles [1755 km] East of the Lesser Antilles.

If the model tracking holds the storm could be a problem for the Carolinas during this week.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]