Feds double estimate of oil gushing into gulf
Jennifer Latson,Jennifer A. Dlouhy, Hearst Newspapers
Friday, June 11, 2010
Oil is flowing from a blown-out well in the Gulf of Mexico almost twice as fast - at minimum - as has been estimated, although some of it is now being captured, federal officials said Thursday.
Their estimates now range from 20,000 to 40,000 barrels per day, according to U.S. Geological Survey Director Marcia McNutt - well above the most recent estimate of 12,000 to 19,000 barrels per day and vastly higher than BP's original reckoning of 1,000 to 5,000 barrels in the days after the April 20 blowout.
The new numbers are based on week-old data, McNutt said, representing the rate before underwater robots cut a bent pipe that once connected the Macondo well, a mile deep below the gulf's surface, with the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig. That procedure temporarily increased the total amount of flow, but BP now is catching more than 15,000 barrels a day through another pipe attached to the severed pipe.
Scientists will work to determine how much oil has leaked since the pipe was severed June 3.
BP is preparing, as early as Monday, to siphon more oil from the bleeding well.
And as it tries to slow down the amount of oil spilling into the gulf, the company agreed to speed up payments to businesses and residents affected by the spill, responding to public outcry and government pressure.
"BP recognized that their previous approach of waiting until the books have closed each month to calculate losses will not work, and are implementing a more expedited process," said Tracy Wareing, with the National Incident Command coordinating spill response, who met with BP officials earlier this week.
The company also promised to take into account that many of the industries most affected by the spill - including fishing and tourism - make the bulk of their income in the summer months.
"We wanted to make sure they are calculating the damages to those individuals based on the earnings they would get in that short period of time, not dividing an annual salary by 12," Wareing said.
BP officials will meet with President Obama next week to discuss the company's financial responsibility for the spill. BP has paid more than $57 million to fishermen, deckhands and other workers who have lost wages and business because of the spill.
At the same time, BP and the Obama administration faced mounting frustration and anger Thursday as lawmakers and Gulf Coast officials complained that efforts to clean up the crude are being stalled by red tape and a Byzantine response operation.
"We're at war here," said Billy Nungesser, the Republican president of Plaquemines Parish, La. "I have spent more time fighting the officials of BP and the Coast Guard than fighting the oil."
Lawmakers on Thursday drew fresh comparisons to the government's widely criticized response when Hurricane Katrina hit the New Orleans area in 2005.
"The people that are on the ground, either up to their chin in water or up to their knees in oil, in this case, don't seem to have the resources or authority to get the job done," said a teary Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La.
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