It’s a doubly-bad day for news regarding the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico: Scientists have doubled their estimates of the amount of barrels flowing into the Gulf every day, and BP announced it will not have the oil leak sealed before August. New estimates put the a mount of barrels of oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico at 40,000, doubling previous estimates of 20,000, with the total now figuring between 42 million and 84 million barrels of oil leaked since the spill began on April 20th. —JCL The LA Times: Government scientists said Thursday that as many as 40,000 barrels of oil have been flowing daily from the blown-out BP well, doubling earlier estimates and greatly expanding the scope of what is already the largest spill in U.S. history. The new figures could mean 42 million to 84 million gallons of oil have leaked into the Gulf of Mexico since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on the night of April 20 — with the lowest estimate nearly four times the size of the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill. The flow estimates were released by Marcia McNutt, director of the U.S. Geological Survey, and do not count any increases that may have occurred since the cutting of the well’s riser pipe, a step that was expected to boost the flow. Read more Related Entries June 10, 2010 Putting the ‘I’ in Environment June 10, 2010 Sarah Palin: Competent Manager
