The BP oil leak continues to spew crude to the Gulf of Mexico, even with BP’s PR department trumpeting “success” over the weekend. After 3 weeks of the oil continuously spilling to the ocean, scientists feel like there is probably much more oil than is just being seen on the surface. What’s a lot more, these deep, undersea plumes of oil are approaching a current that could carry the oil spill to the Florida Keys and beyond.
BP oil spill response – too little too late?
The BP oil spill response has included several failed attempts to date. Monday the BP oil spill response team announced that company engineers had inserted a metal tube to the end of the broken pipe that is allowing some oil to be siphoned to a surface ship. Voice of America reports that BP Vice President Kent Wells says the method will reduce the amount of oil spewing into the water. Next they’ll make an effort to pump mud and other materials to the sea floor to block the well.
30 million gallons and counting: The Gulf coast oil spill
Based on BP and U.S. Coast Guard estimates, the oil spill within the Gulf of Mexico 2010 has already dumped nearly 5.67 million gallons into the sea, — an easy pay day compared to the cleanup costs that may be required for other estimates. As reported at skytruth.org, Dr. Ian MacDonald from Florida State University produced an estimate depending on the U.S. Coast Guard aerial over flight map of the oil slick on April 28 that suggests a minimum flow rate of slightly more than 1.1 million gallons of oil (26,500 barrels) per day. We’re now in Day 27 of the spill, which started with an explosion on April 20, so as outlined by those estimates, there have been more than 30 million gallons spilled into the Gulf of Mexico. You will find some scientists that suggest the spill is leaking 3.4 million gallons a day.
The Gulf Coast oil spill with undersea plumes
With the official estimates of the Exxon Valdez spill at 11 million gallons a day, the BP oil leak makes it look like nothing. Although the oil spill within the Gulf of Mexico has yet to reach the shoreline for probably the most part, the New York Times reports that scientists are finding enormous oil plumes in deeper waters, including one as large as 10 miles long, 3 miles wide and 300 feet thick. These specific plumes are depleting the oxygen dissolved in the gulf. Scientists believe the oxygen levels will go so low that they will kill most undersea life near the plumes.
This oil spill might go to Florida Keys
The Gulf of Mexico 2010 oil spill is going closer to a Loop Current. Reuters reports that scientists say once the BP oil leak is within the loop, it could reach the Florida Keys in 10 days. This specific look is a ribbon of warm water that starts in the Gulf of Mexico and courses around Florida. There are scientists that think the current will draw the oil slick through the keys and then north up Florida’s Atlantic Coast. They say the oil could wash up around Palm Beach when missing Miami and Fort Lauderdale.
Tropical marine life endangered by Gulf Coast oil spill
The 3rd longest barrier reef within the world, the 221 mile long Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, that draws millions of dollars in tourism to Florida’s floundering economy might be destroyed by the oil spill within the Gulf of Mexico 2010. The toxic oil slick can smother the corals, causing a chain response of carnage among thousands of species of exotic marine life that live in and around reefs.
Sources for the article
skytruth.org
http://blog.skytruth.org/2010/05/gulf-oil-spill-new-spill-rate.html
New York Times reports
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/16/us/16oil.html
Reuters reports
http://www.canadianbusiness.com/markets/market_news/article.jsp?content=D9FORQS01
