" How big is the Deepwater Horizon oil spill?" BBC indicates it is smaller than many other spills

[skipos]

How big is the Deepwater Horizon oil spill?
Elena Egawhary
BBC News

Thousands of tonnes of oil have poured into the Gulf of Mexico after the disaster at the Deepwater Horizon oil rig over two weeks ago. But how does this leak compare with the largest offshore spills on record?

The current size of the Deepwater Horizon spill is hard to measure exactly, but attempts can be made to estimate it.

Based on oil flow calculations from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Dr Simon Boxall, a marine pollution expert, says a total current spill can be estimated at about 7,000 to 10,000 tonnes of oil. (See factbox below for how this was worked out.)

But such estimates should always carry a caveat, he says, as these can be affected by factors such as the condition of the rig, the well and the quality of information available.

After the incident on 21 April, first estimate of the volume of oil leaking to surface was about 1,000 barrels a day
On 29 April this was increased to 5,000 barrels a day and remains unchanged

In terms of lives lost (11 workers died in the rig explosion), financial cost and environmental damage, the Deepwater Horizon incident is clearly serious. But it is not one of the world's largest spills in terms of size alone.

more...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8664684.stm

[DURHAM D]

1. Well BP does stand for BRITISH Petroleum...

BP is the octopus that holds the British government in its grasp. I assumed they were down playing the problem back home.

[madmax]

2. My first thought, exactamente! ;)

[malaise]

4. Ding ding

We have a winner

[Kalun D]

3. Not the Largest in the World

but already the largest ever in the USA, and it's still leaking.

I think more relevant than the size is the conditions under which it happened. Constant waivers from the regulations, which continue even after this spill. Bush cronies still in most of the management positions in the regulating agency. Lack of a EIS from the Obama admin due to BP lobbying against it.

This spill was caused by the same lack of regulations that existed under the bush boy, nothing has changed and nothing will.

[Dream Girl]

5. Not to mention that it is close to major population centers and will

devastate many industries...doesn't
mater if there are some that are larger than this one.. This will certainly wreak more havoc

[NotThisTime]

7. At over 3 million gallons still smaller than the Valdez, but for how long? A few more weeks...

They don't cap this damn thing within a couple of weeks and it will quickly take the place of the Valdez... every single day more than 200K gallons are spilling into the Gulf...

[Barackbaby]

6. Here's a chart of past oil spills

<a href="" target="_blank"><img src="" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>


The one in the Gulf of Mexico, in 1979, was pretty big.

[flamingdem]

8. Assume they are lying or stretching the truth at best nt

[BrklynLiberal]

9. Interesting...another post says just the opposite

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4373380

Ice crystals cause Gulf oil box problems - Gulf spill likely bigger than Exxon Valdez, claims expert

[Forkboy]

10. No worries then.

[dixiegrrrrl]

11. I'm sure the comparative amount of toxic goo will be of some comfort

to the dying eco-system and the out of work residents.
" So sorry for all the loss, but did you know there were bigger gushers of oil elsewhere"
What's that you say? It doesn't pay the bills to know this?

[marybourg]

12. I don't understand why it's called a spill. Nothing spilled. It's an

underwater gusher. A gusher is what they called an uncapped or uncontrolled oil well on land (in the olden days). Why are we calling the same thing a "spill" when it a mile down? Makes it seem less ominous?