Hmmm. Let's subtract 5,000 from 5,000 and ....Hey, they got it all, amirite?
Associated Press:
Mark Proegler, a spokesman for oil giant BP PLC, said a mile-long tube inserted into a leaking pipe over the weekend is now capturing 210,000 gallons a day — the total amount the company and the Coast Guard have estimated is gushing into the sea — but some is still escaping. He would not say how much.
Several professors who have watched video of the leak have already said they believe the amount gushing out is much higher than the official estimates.
Proegler said the 210,000 gallons — 5,000 barrels — has always been just an estimate because there is no way of measuring how much is gushing from the seafloor.
The flow through the sucker tube has reportedly increased each day:
The oil is flowing into a drillship on the surface via a mile-long tube inserted May 16. The ship also is flaring natural gas from the well at a rate of 15 million cubic feet a day, said Salt. BP, based in London, yesterday estimated the daily flow to the drill ship at 3,000 barrels a day and 14 million cubic feet of gas.
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So isn't it now obvious that BP/NOAA's initial estimates are low? BP has no comment. But Steve Wereley does:
Using a well-established scientific technique to measure flow from the biggest of three leaks near the seafloor, he determined that the flow coming out of the end of the pipe could be 10 times the size of the official figure.
Wereley has now analyzed video of a second leak. At a hearing on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, he said that leak alone appears to be bigger than the official estimate of 5,000 barrels a day.
"What I get is 25,000 barrels a day coming out of that tiny hole — that's a 1.2-inch hole," he said, adding that it seemed "incomprehensible."
Wereley says the oil in this part of the pipe is under tremendous pressure. Add his current figure to last week's estimate of about 70,000 barrels a day, and his total approaches 100,000 barrels a day. And, there's another leak he has yet to analyze.
Wereley's flow rate includes both gas and oil, so he says his figures may come down once he sees enough video to be able to quantify the amount of gas.
"But from what I see in the videos, I don't see the numbers coming down that significantly," he says.
Thanks to Rep. Markey, we should be able to see a live feed ("OilCam?") of the spewing pipe later today.
BP has told US Representative Edward Markey that it will release a live feed of the gushing source of the oil spill that is fouling the Gulf of Mexico so that Markey can show it on his House committee's website, www.globalwarming.house.gov, Markey said.
I can't say it's going to be very entertaining, but that will be "must-see TV." I'm guessing they don't got it all. Amirite?
Of course, our crack scientists can't help with any of these questions about the oil spill because they are too busy with the oil spill? what? see if you can figure it out (NYTimes):
The scientists point out that in the month since the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded, the government has failed to make public a single test result on water from the deep ocean.....
"It seems baffling that we don’t know how much oil is being spilled," Sylvia Earle, a famed oceanographer, said Wednesday on Capitol Hill. "It seems baffling that we don’t know where the oil is in the water column."
The administration acknowledges that its scientific resources are stretched by the disaster, but contends that it is moving to get better information, including a more complete picture of the underwater plumes.
"We’re in the early stages of doing that, and we do not have a comprehensive understanding as of yet of where that oil is," Jane Lubchenco, the NOAA administrator, told Congress on Wednesday. "But we are devoting all possible resources to understanding where the oil is and what its impact might be." ...Of the 19 research vessels owned by NOAA, 5 are in the Gulf of Mexico and available for work on the spill, Dr. Lubchenco said, counting a newly commissioned boat.
But there is not a single one of these vessels working on the spill issues!!!
Heckuva job, Dr. Lu.
In fact, the EPA says that it is BP that is doing the monitoring (ya rite):
EPA is working closely with its federal partners, including the U.S. Coast Guard and NOAA, to ensure an aggressive dispersant monitoring plan is implemented by BP and that data are regularly and rigorously reviewed.