The Gulf Spill Broken Down

May 5, 2010

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The Gulf of Mexico oil spill story grows more complicated by the day, thanks largely to all the statistics and numbers being tossed around. One thousand barrels are leaking a day, or is it 5,000. Or, as of yesterday according to BP officials, perhaps 20,000. Which would be how many gallons exactly? (420 per barrel.) The Deepwater Horizon spill either has the potential to be the biggest since the Exxon Valdez, which leaked 11 million gallons, or much less, dependent on whose speaking. Somewhere between 10 and 40 percent of the U.S.’s seafood comes from the Gulf, making it a $1 billion-plus industry. Thirty percent, or is it 20, of our home-drilled oil comes from the same region; and 40 percent, or is it 30, of all of our exports – from tires to coffee beans – come through the New Orleans port … or was that imports headed out?

A graphic illustrations, from the Good blog, by Andrew Price:

Gulf Coast Well May Be Gushing 2 Million Gallons A Day

May 1, 2010

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A confidential government report has leaked suggesting that scientists believe the Gulf of Mexico oil spill could be unfixable and turn into “an unchecked gusher” for weeks or months to come. It cites scientific estimating that suggests the leak may be ten times worse than what’s being reported now by BP, so the real number could be closer to 2.1 million gallons. A day. I saw the report at al.com, a blog of the Alabama Press-Register. See my post at takepart.com.