The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico continues to expand, and government officials are now saying the ruptured well may be spewing five times more crude than was originally estimated. The coast guard had a news conference late Wednesday night as strategies to stop the leak failed. Rear Adm. Mary E. Landry told reporters that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration had revised its previous estimate of the leak from 1,000 barrels a day to 5,000. Those that were assigned to clean up the oil spill are experimenting with burning the oil slick. By Friday night, weather reports show that the oil spill might be hitting the gulf of Louisiana. It would cost a lot of cash today if the situation escalates and, as Landry said, if the military has to be called in to assist.
Accelerating oil spill of the Gulf coast
The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has been spreading since April 20 when a drilling rig leased by BP exploded and sank about 50 miles off the Louisiana coast, leaving 11 workers missing and presumed dead. Originally it was believed by experts that the oil came from two leaks in the riser, which happens to be a 5,000 foot long pipe that lead from the rig to the wellhead on the ocean floor. Chief operating officer for exploration and production for BP, Doug Suttles, said, according to the The New York Times, that a new leak had been discovered. A leading edge of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico stretching about 100 miles across had advanced to 16 miles offshore Wednesday, closing in on the Mississippi River Delta.
The oil spill on the Gulf coast estimates
Scientists are eyeballing video feeds from remote submersibles to estimate output of the leaks in the riser. “That takes a practiced eye,” said Doug Helton in an e-mail to the New York Times Wednesday night. “Like being able to look at a garden hose and judge how many gallons a minute are being discharged. The surface approach is to measure the area of the slick, the percent cover, and then estimate the thickness based on some rough color codes.†CNN reports that most of the slick is a thin sheen on the water’s surface. Heavy, pudding like crude oil is only about 3 percent of it.
Oil slick on fire
To diminish damage to shoreline from the spill in the Gulf of Mexico, an oil slick fire is being tested. BP and Coast Guard crew late Wednesday afternoon started an oil slick fire test 30 miles east of the Mississippi delta of the Mississippi river, according to the Associated Press. Several thousand gallons of the thickest oil on the surface was corralled by a 500 foot fireproof boom. The oil was taken away from the main body of the spill and ignited with hand held flares. The Coast Guard expected the flames to vaporize between 50 percent to 90 percent of the oil in the boom. Prevailing winds were expected to blow the toxic black cloud of smoke and soot out to sea.
Oil Slick cleanup assistance by military
As the oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico continued to spread, CNN reports that cleanup planners briefed Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Thursday morning. The military is working on plans that could include putting a ship in the Gulf to support and resupply cleanup vessels or provide aircraft to help map the spill. This might be a long term operation considering the plan to establish a base on the coast for equipment and supplies for the cleanup of the oil.
For months the oil slick could spread
CNN reports that to stop the oil spill from spreading further, the NOAA said a rig will start drilling the first relief well a half mile from the disaster site on Friday. But the well, intended to stop up the gushing leak with concrete, mud or other heavy liquid, will take several months to complete. A shorter term solution that is expected to take two to four weeks is a dome lowered over the leak at the sea floor which routs leaking oil to a surface collection point. Whether the Dome technique is effective is uncertain. It hasn’t been tried so deep in the water before.
The oil spill price tag for cleanup
The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is costing a bundle. Those who are officials in the oil industry suggest replacing the oil rig would cost up to e $ 700 million. BP said containing the oil spill will cost $ 6 million. The disaster is expected to rise in costs and to exceed $ 1 billion.
Article Resources
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/29/us/29spill.html?pagewanted=2&ref=us
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