Deepwater Horizon: "managing expectations" of oil spill volume ... by gimleteye

The blog, Skytruth, is focusing on an area of inquiry that is escaping the mainstream media attention for predictable reasons. How much oil is being spewed out of the miles deep hole, one mile under the Gulf of Mexico? Skytruth calculates the rate of spill is five times what BP is reporting; 26,500 and not 5,000 barrels per day. That puts the total disaster at 21 million gallons so far; which would be twice the size of the Exxon Valdez in 1989 in scarcely twenty days.

4/22 - Deepwater Horizon rig sinks; Coast Guard estimates "up to" 8,000 barrels per day (bpd) is leaking - source
4/23 - Coast Guard reports no leaking at all from the damaged well - source
4/24 - Coast Guard reports well is leaking, estimates 1,000 bpd - source
4/25 - BP repeats 1,000 bpd estimate - source
4/27 - 1,000 bpd still the official Coast Guard and BP estimate - source
4/27 - SkyTruth and Dr. Ian MacDonald publish first estimate that spill rate is 20,000 bpd - source
4/28 - NOAA weighs in and raises the official estimate to 5,000 bpd based on aerial surveys "and other factors"; BP disputes this higher estimate - source
4/29 - Coast Guard and NOAA repeat their estimate of 5,000 bpd - source
4/29 - BP's Chief Operating Officer admits new estimate of 5,000 bpd may be correct; "He said there was no way to measure the flow at the seabed and estimates have to come from how much oil makes it to the surface" - source
5/1 - SkyTruth and Dr. Ian MacDonald publish revised estimate of at least 26,500 bpd - source
5/1 - Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen "acknowledged there was no way really to know the extent of the leak" - source - and stated that "Any exact estimate is probably impossible at this time" - source
5/1 - Coast Guard and NOAA cease estimating the rate of the spill.