I’m Shocked…
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)”.
7 comments
LOL Yeah… really! 😉
I was just reading a blog at TP:
BP’s expected oil disaster fine: $21 billion.
It doesn’t take the brains of a Seagull to realise that, since the fine is based upon the number of barrels of oil leaked, that BP would try to con everyone about hw much was actually leaked, and to make it damned hard to prove in any case (hence the massive use of dispersants). Of course, all the morons out there simple believe that 180mill gallons of oil has simply evaporated and is no longer a problem. There is,of course, no point in mentioning those with a vested interest in ensuring the fine is as small as possible.
Corporations lie – they are just like people… well, Republicans anyway.
Ah, yes – don’t worry, be happy. It’s a big Gulf and is self-cleaning, just like your oven. No need to waste time and money cleaning it up. Divers and swimmers are just imagining all that oil they report seeing under water. [Note: not the plumes. People are encountering gobs of oil on the bottom at 5-foot depths, and seeing the reddish brown stuff down to 15 feet near the shore. This is probably the stuff that Bonnie submerged coming back to the top.]
I wonder why the oil dripping from old cars doesn’t seem to disappear from drive ways this quickly?
Shocked? BP should be shocked, but the laws don’t seem to contain a “corporate execution” penalty. Pity. Put the corp in a chair and throw the switch, I say.
Actually, just put them on one of the terrorist lists and all of the executives and board members on the Do Not Fly list. That would be close to a death sentence these days if you are a multinational.
😆 Yeah… That would work! 😀
It seems their fine has been revised down to $17.6 bln now. Let’s see “how low can you go?”
Sorry, should have said ‘potential fine’. For the sake of accuracy. 😉
I think that “potential fine” is going to bounce around a lot, I sense they are using it as both the carrot and the stick is controlling BP’s behavior. If that is true, then it is the first sign of intelligent life in the “Unified Command” as all BP knows is money, and it needs to be in the billions to keep their attention.