Yesterday, BP released a short video of the oil spill, taken one mile down. This is one of two leaks in the pipe out of the blowout preventer. I suppose BP released this to show that it is not "all" oil but oil mixed with methane that is coming out of the hole drilled deep in the earth, and so, makes it difficult to assess exactly how much oil is pouring into the Gulf of Mexico. Estimates range from 5,000 to 26,000 barrels per day.
Curious, but Google Earth overlay of the spill spatial extent haven't been updated in the past few days. A Google engineer had provided his own assessment in an overlay that users could adapt to their own cities. This site, which we noted for Eyeonmiami readers earlier in the week, was picked up by the mainstream press including NBC Nightly News. But that site, too, has not been updated. Hmmm, wonder why.
Some excellent photos of the Deepwater Horizon tragedy, from the Boston Globe.
4 comments:
Imagine if a hurricane picked up this mess and drove it shoreward.
That video looks like the sewage outfall pipe 3 miles offshore. How many gallons of partially treated waste are we knowingly releasing?
I listened to NPR this morning and how the Florida Panhandle tourism people are freaking out, looking for a state emergency hand-out to support an ad campaign that the beaches are still pristine etc. Doncha think they might have thought that out before allowing their elected officials to support offshore oil drilling? Are they all Sarah Palin fans out there? Maybe Marco Rubio can go out and do a little fact finding. He should be sure to wear his flip flops. The sand gets hot this time of year.
AT LAST someone is saying "imagine a hurricane driving this towards shore". Consider this: The Gulf and Bay of Campeche are the main hurricane and tropical storm spawning grounds in the spring. When Gilbert blew ashore in Yucatan it threw the seawater inland over 2 miles. Imagine what will happen if this oil is on the surface when the first hurricane or tropical storm comes thru the Gulf. It will blow oil and water all over the coastal housing and the forests ...and then theres the lightning. Oily water is quite volatile! This could be a HUGE firestorm.
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