It has been just over a month since an explosion and fire caused the death of eleven workers aboard the BP drill rig Deepwater Horizon. The rig would eventually sink and the busted pipeline has been spewing crude oil by the ton into the Gulf of Mexico with attempts to stop it proving ineffective.
Most recently BP deployed a siphon that is drawing approximately 5,000 barrels a day to a surface vessel, which is a number close to the estimate BP had given officials regarding the total amount of oil being leaked a day. But, as live video cameras show a billowing pillar of crude oil not being siphoned, the oil company has admitted it’s estimates may have been a bit low initially.
As you might expect, “experts” are coming out of the woodwork, each offering their own guestimations as to how much crude oil is actually leaking daily. From CNN:
Steve Wereley, a professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue University, told CNN’s “American Morning” that the spill could be as big as 20,000 to 100,000 barrels a day.
The CNN article describes the next steps BP is taking to address the disaster:
BP Managing Director Bo Dudley said Thursday night the company will pump fluids into the well this weekend in the beginning of a process that — if successful — could lead to the leak finally being closed off in a matter of days.
“If that option doesn’t work, we’ve got a second and a third option we’ll do after that,” Dudley said on CNN’s Larry King on Thursday. “We’re hopeful that next week we’ll be able to shut it off.”
It appears as though Toyota is officially off the corporate hot seat and now BP’s buns are toasting. Doesn’t Bruce Willis work for them? Send him down there in a submersible, a crew of charismatic roughnecks and a load of dynamite and let’s fix this thing already!
(To see the Earth’s previous difficulties with catastrophic acne, CLICK HERE)
