Federal officials acknowledged over the weekend that initial estimates of the size of the Gulf Coast oil spill were likely too small after a small nonprofit firm in West Viriginia called them into question.
Late last week, analyst John Amos of SkyTruth told OnEarth that he estimated about 820,000 gallons (or 20,000 barrels) of oil a day were flowing into the Gulf of Mexico. That was four times the rate estimated by the U.S. Coast Guard and 20 times what BP initially claimed.
It got worse: By Saturday, Amos had increased his estimate to 25,000 barrels a day -- about 1.1 million gallons of oil -- citing a new assessment on the size of the spill from Florida State University oceanographer Ian MacDonald.
"Since we're now in Day 11 of the spill, which began with a blowout and explosion on April 20," Amos wrote on the SkyTruth blog, "we estimate that by the end of today 12.2 million gallons of oil, at a minimum, have been spilled into the Gulf of Mexico."
This would mean that the situation in the Gulf is already worse than 1989's Exxon Valdez disaster, which spilled about 11 million gallons of oil off the coast of Alaska.
"It appears that we've just set a very sad new record," Amos said.
The Coast Guard said Saturday it was becoming too difficult to estimate the spill's size. "Any exact estimate is probably impossible at this time," Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen told the Los Angeles Times.
That was after the Mobile, Ala., Press-Register reported on Friday that, according to a leaked government report obtained by the paper, the Coast Guard thinks the spill could grow to 2.1 million gallons of oil per day. When asked about the estimate, NOAA spokesman Scott Smullen said, "I'm letting the document you have speak for itself."
Whatever the spill's size, it became clear over the weekend that the nation is facing one of the worst environmental disasters in its history. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar called it "a very grave scenario" on NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday. He suggested that it could take three months to drill a "relief well" 3.5 miles below the ocean floor in order help stem the current leak.
"And by the time you drill that well down," he said, "a lot of oil could spread."
Related: See reports from NRDC experts assessing the situation on the Gulf Coast.
Image: VENICE, La. - U.S. Environmental Services workers move oil containment boom onto a supply boat in Venice, La., April 28, 2010. Staging areas are being set up along the Gulf coast as the Deepwater Horizon spill continues to spread. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Patrick Kelley.
The BP leak is an unprecedented environmental disaster in the making, and one whose scale and impact are unique to the petroleum industry. In the past, the NRDC has been very critical of the "conventional" biofuels industries in the U.S. (namely, corn-based ethanol and biodiesel). I hope this tragic occurrence causes the NRDC to re-consider its position on the domestic biofuels industry.
There are plenty of valid arguments to be made in favor of expanding these new industries carefully and with more forethought than has gone into our development of petroleum resources. However, for the foreseeable future, every gallon of ethanol or biodiesel that we choose not to use for "environmental reasons" is a gallon of gasoline or diesel fuel that will be produced by the petroleum industry. Increasingly, this petroleum will come from high impact sources such as the Alberta tar sands and the kind of deep water wells that led to the BP disaster.
Biofuels are certainly not perfect, but they are certainly better than petroleum fuels (particularly biodiesel, which has the highest net energy gain ratio and lowest environmental impact of any available fuel, bio- or petroleum). The studies describing potential "indirect land use change" effects from biofuels that are often used to discredit biofuels in environmental forums discussed only theoretical impacts, while the petroleum industry impact we are currently beginning to experience is as real as it gets.
This incident has highlighted in the starkest possible way the sad irony of the NRDC's decision to side with the petroleum industry on the issue of biofuels. Otherwise sensible and conscientious citizens were suckered into a snare that was carefully laid by the petroleum industry p.r./policy machine. The only silver lining I can see for this environmental catastrophe is that it might help us return to reality before it is too late. Biofuels are better for the environment than petroleum fuels, plain and simple.
Oil spills have been occurring for long time. Look at Australia, Ecuador and Nigeria as other examples. Why is some part of oil industry profits not immediately directed into a One-Hundred Billion Dollar Trust Fund for a GREEN Earth? Such a global superfund will direct capital to the global clean-up of the messes that have already been made as well provide to the development of technologies that reduce the risk of spillage from oil rigs. Given the environmental damage we have seen occur worldwide, such a step appears long overdue.
Let us hope that one day the children do not compare the nuclear holocaust at Chernobyl in the USSR to the fossil fools' disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.
Steven Earl Salmony
AWAREness Campaign on the Human Population
established 2001
The workers who are cleaning up the oil in the Gulf need to be aware of the chemicals that will be used for the cleaning. Oil companies do not care about human health issues that arise from their toxic chemicals. I am one of the 11,000+ cleanup workers from the Exxon Valdez oil spill, who is suffering from health issues from that toxic cleanup, without compensation from Exxon.
There is an on going lawsuit with VECO's insurance company, the company Exxon contracted for hiring employees. Please read my article below for more information.
The Wake of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Leaves Exxon’s Collateral Damaged
My name is Merle Savage; a female general foreman during the EVOS beach cleanup in 1989, which turned into 20 years of extensive health deterioration for me and many other workers. Dr. Riki Ott visited me in 2007 to explain about the toxic spraying on the beaches. She also informed me that Exxon's medical records and the reports that surfaced in litigation brought by sick workers in 1994, had been sealed from the public, making it impossible to hold Exxon responsible for their actions. http://www.rikiott.com
Dr. Riki Ott has devoted her life to taking control from corporations and giving it back to We The People. If corporations continue to control our legal system, then We The People become victims. http://www.MovetoAmend.org
Dr. Riki Ott has written two books; Sound Truth & Corporate Myth$ and Not One Drop. Dr. Ott has investigated and studied the oil spill spraying, and quotes numerous reports in her books, on the toxic chemicals that were used during the 1989 Prince William Sound oily beach cleanup. Black Wave the Film is based on Not One Drop, with interviews of EVOS victims; my interview was featured in the section; Like a War Zone.
http://www.blackwavethefilm.com
Exxon developed the toxic spraying; OSHA, the Coast Guard, and the state of Alaska authorized the procedure; VECO and other Exxon contractors implemented it. Beach crews breathed in crude oil that splashed off the rocks and into the air -- the toxic exposure turned into chronic breathing conditions and central nervous system problems, along with other massive health issues. Some of the illnesses include neurological impairment, chronic respiratory disease, leukemia, lymphoma, brain tumors, liver damage, and blood disease.
Please view the 7 minute video that validates my accusations.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5632208859935499100
My web site is devoted to searching for EVOS cleanup workers who were exposed to the toxic spraying, and are suffering from the same illnesses that I have. Our summer employment turned into a death sentence for many -- and a life of unending medical conditions for the rest of us.
http://www.silenceinthesound.com/stories.shtml
http://www.silenceinthesound.com/gallery.shtml
Planetresource.net has a Eco friendly solution to clean up the tragedy British Petroleum has created, please watch the video animation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60bdQQQ3iVw and pass this along to as many people as you know.
One person can still make a difference in this world, is that simple interactions have a rippling effect. Each time this gets pass along, the hope in cleaning our planet is passed on.