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Kate Sheppard reports on an independent estimate of the BP oil disaster which again raises the amount of oil spilled into the Gulf:
An independent estimate concluded this week that the BP spill dumped 4.4 million barrels of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico. The new study, published this week in Science, is the first peer-reviewed analysis of the total amount spilled over the nearly three months of the disaster. The scientists used high-resolution video of the leaking well to estimate the rate of the spill.
The estimate is slightly higher than the estimate from the government’s flow rate team, which concluded in August that 4.1 million barrels were spilled into the Gulf and another 800,0000 barrels was removed from the water.
The difference of 300,000 barrels equals the total amount of oil spilled in the Exxon Valdez disaster.
And this has a monetary cost to BP as well. Many penalties under the Clean Air Act base their amounts on a per-barrel rate. As much as $4,300 a barrel could be owed to the government by BP, especially if they were found liable of gross negligence in the disaster, so this increase could mean up to $1.29 billion to BP’s bottom line.
The estimate published in Science has a plus/minus of 20%. At the initial time of the spill, BP estimated that just 1,000 barrels a day flowed into the Gulf. This estimate would reflect at least 50 times that.
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Greedy, nasty, murdering pigs continue their stonewalling.
BP holding back data on oil spill impact, Louisiana officials say
So? Who would that surprise? And the irony of wanting to trust LA officials….wow. And the complications that there are many folks who think our very own govt./Pres. low-balled the estimate of the spill almost from the beginning. But so? It’s all been eaten away, hasn’t it?
We the civilian population are to weak or JUST FLAT OUT to scared to push back. I liked what George Carlin said about those jobs.
what did he say?
You have to watch it to get the just of it, but it’s great; As always. His last show on HBO was about SS and the ultri rich’s position on elimanting it. He said they are going to get rid of it! Now we have the CATFOOD? Go Figure.
The penalty’s kinda of red herring at this point. The real issue is what Obamco or the private plaintiffs get out of Brit Pet by way of remedying the damage they did to the Gulf and the people affected by their malfeasance. The penalty’s important, but it won’t go to the remedy, which is a separate Brit Pet obligation, although apparently not one of great or pressing interest to The Vacuous Opportunist or his EPA Administrator or his AG.
It’s interesting how the MSM have largely stopped talking about BP’s disaster, while they run constant BP commercials about how BP’s making it right. Shameless.
Try this.
You know, it is really hard when the government lies and is collaborating with BP to hide the truth.What difference does it make to expose the truth when the government ignores it and even tries to hide it?
Of course we must continue but it is dispiriting work
We will never know how much.
BP operating revenue (2009) was $239bn, net income $16bn. So the top end fine would be about a month’s profit, in 2009 terms.
Yeah man, bp sure hopes everyone will hurry up and forget about the whole thing so they can sleaze their way off the hook. Every gop congress person must be investigated for unpatriotic activity for their party’s attempt to bailout a foreign oil company. Cuts both ways ms bockmann!
Count me in, I stop at the Gas Station about every two weeks; Hybird Man! and I’m not Hollywood like Jane.
The damage has not been calculated in terms of decades of biological destruction and the seeps from the sea floor around the “relief” wells. The economic damage to ocean dependent enterprise has not been assessed. Not over.
YES, the struggle continues. I’m not really being fair when I post comments. I have been watching the post for sometime now. some decent comments such as yours keep me looking to see if I can get some insight. As always it is what it is. So lets continue the fight and maybe something like the 1930′s will reappear.
Finally, local/state government is stepping up to document the impact of BP’s gushers on the health of Gulf residents.
Oil spill-related health visits grow
“The number of Alabama residents reporting suspected oil-related health effects from the Gulf of Mexico is growing as experts begin to lay out plans for studying the health effects on cleanup workers and others exposed to the oil.”
LINK.
Maybe in addition to a fine BP should be made to pay royalties on that oil as if it had been successfully extracted for refinement and sale. It was, after all, their actions and those of their agents in trying to get the oil, that caused the massive spill in the first place.
What! Nobody has calculators? 4.4 million times 4300 equals 18.9 billion dollars.
Halliburton and BP are pointing fingers at each other. LINK.
Time was when we had a President that said we would put a man on the moon within a few short years and evolve and go on to invent great things. Now, with all our great “brains”….MIT, UCLA, NASA etc etc it took months to fix a “seven inch hole in a pipe”. A seven inch hole and nobody…nobody had the answer, cept to come up with a few new ways to scratch their collective heads. Re write the safety manuals with three words “find some leadership”.