Plaquemines Parish's coastal zone management director, P.J. Hahn, wades in the oily muck June 5 on Queen Bess Island, LA. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert).
According to an undated internal BP document obtained by congressman Ed Markey (D-MA), the estimate of oil leaking into the Gulf of Mexico may need to be increased again - for the fifth time.
The amount of oil pouring into the sea has been a matter of controversy since the spill began on April 20, with many saying BP had deliberately understated the rate in order to play down its liability.
Last week a panel of scientists reporting to the federal government sharply increased the estimate of the amount of oil flowing into the Gulf of Mexico from 210,000 gallons (5000 barrels) per day to up to 2.52 million gallons (60,000 barrels) per day.
The spill has impacted 59 miles of Gulf Coast shoreline, mainly in Louisiana but also in Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. More than one-third of federal waters in the Gulf are closed to fishing because of the spill.
According to the Telegraph UK, the BP document released on Sunday showed that the company has estimated that oil could pour from its broken well in the Gulf of Mexico at the rate of 100,000 barrels (4.2 million gallons) per day, nearly double the current reckoning by the US government.
The estimate is consistent with a report in which CNN quotes the lead government official responding to the spill, the commandant of the Coast Guard, Admiral Thad Allen, as stating, "if we lost a total well head, it could be 100,000 barrels or more a day."
The document is also consistent with an exploration plan and environmental impact analysis filed with the federal government in February 2009. According to the Houston Chronicle, BP said then that it had the capability to handle a “worst-case scenario” at the Deepwater Horizon site, which the document described as a leak of 162,000 barrels per day from an uncontrolled blowout - 6.8 million gallons each day.
“This document raises very troubling questions about what BP knew and when they knew it,” Markey said. “It is clear that, from the beginning, BP has not been straightforward with the government or the American people about the true size of this spill. BP was either lying or grossly incompetent. First they said it was only 1,000 barrels, then they said it was 5,000 barrels, now we're up to 100,000 barrels," he told NBC's "Meet the Press."
What may be even more troubling is this report from the AP:
The oil emanating from the seafloor contains about 40 percent methane, compared with about 5 percent found in typical oil deposits, said John Kessler, a Texas A&M University oceanographer who is studying the impact of methane from the spill. That means huge quantities of methane have entered the Gulf, scientists say, potentially suffocating marine life and creating 'dead zones' where oxygen is so depleted that nothing lives. 'This is the most vigorous methane eruption in modern human history,' Kessler said.
Given the continual incremental increases of the oil leak as well as the failure to mention the amount of methane gas escaping in to the Gulf, it does suggest that at best, this is a result of utter incompetence or outright lies. It is not beyond the realm of possibility that the American people have been willfully mislead by BP, the corporate media and the US government in order to gradually condition them to accept the enormity of this disaster.
It is also possible that the environmental damage will not be able to be reversed - at least in our lifetimes. Some of the oil may be able to be cleaned up, but it is impossible to clean up methane. No matter which sources one chooses to believe, the estimates of the enormity of the disaster in the Gulf have continually escalated since it began on April 20.
View Congressman Markey's statement on "Meet the Press" here:
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Comments
BP has been lying all along...it's obvious.
Of course they were lying all along... Who really would want to be implicated in the largest spill related disaster this world has seen? Would you? I still say EVERYONE needs to boycott them, do not use their gas the world around for even a week.. that will seriously impact how they deal with things in the future. If we want to get things heard and done we the people have to stand up and boycott and be heard. We can't expect our useless government to do it for us. The only person that has our best interests at heart is us. So be heard!
why would you want to boycott BP?
let's say you hit them with huge penalties, boycotts, etc.
bankrupt them.
who's gonna plug the leak and cleanup the mess?
i would think you would want BP to be doing well enough to be able to pay for all of this.
it seems that some people want BP to be punished, more than they want to see the mess cleaned up. not very fair to those of us who live in the area.
I agree with Thomas. The point is for us all to contribute to finding a solution. Beating BP over the head is not going to fix anything, and will not even make you feel better for more than a few moments. The oil still gushes...
The residents of Massachusetts should demand that Massachusetts Representative Ed Markey get back to Massachusetts and resolve all the unresolved issues with the 2003 Bouchard B 120 oil spill in Buzzards Bay !
Lets look at a smaller oil spill in Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts in 2003 . The Coast Guard and/or Unified Command had no boat skimmers, booms deployed were to small to handle the number six oil, only a few air guns were available to keep birds off the islands, there was no public involvement by private citizens, and after 90 days the Unified Command simply signed off and left the oiled beaches to the state! Sound familiar? Where was representative Ed Markey ?
The US Coast Guard after the 2003 oil spill fought the state of Massachusetts over the "2004 Oil Spill Prevention Act ." The Coast Guard through legal action stopped the act which would provide tug boat escorts through the bay. Whose interest does the Coast Guard have at heart? The Coast Guard actually prevented new
The US Coast Guard after the 2003 oil spill fought the state of Massachusetts over the "2004 Oil Spill Prevention Act ." The Coast Guard through legal action stopped the act which would provide tug boat escorts through the bay. Whose interest does the Coast Guard have at heart? The Coast Guard actually prevented new laws to protect the bay.
Where was Rep Ed Markey ?
Since the 2003 Bouchard B 120 oil spill the federal government has denied a federal class action lawsuit against the oil company and the one Massachusetts property damage lawsuit has dragged on for eight years. Where was representative Ed Markey
How has the government stood with the people of Massachusetts? Where was Rep Ed Markey ?
Ixtoc-I blew out in a very similar manner in the Bay of Campeche in 1979, it was a larger release than this one and took 10 months to seal. Note that the estimate of 100,000 was in the case of the wellhead being blown off, this didn't happen, Markey is just grandstanding.
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