One Month After Spill, Coast Guard Says: ‘Now It’s Time to Get Better Info’
In the month since the Deepwater Horizon disaster caused a Gulf of Mexico gusher, many experts have both doubted the official estimate that just 5,000 barrels of oil are spewing out each day, and criticized the White House for not digging deeper to get a more accurate measure.
Yesterday, their skepticism proved to have merit, when BP announced that it’s siphoning 5,000 barrels per day from the leak to barges above the spill, yet the spill continues to gush. The Washington Post reports:
“„Officials initially put the flow at 5,000 barrels a day. But on Thursday, the oil company BP announced that it was collecting that amount through a tube inserted into a leaking pipe, and video from the seafloor showed oil still spewing from the pipe. BP said oil was also leaking from a spot a few yards away.
“„“Now, it’s time to get better information,” said Coast Guard Adm. Thad W. Allen, who is leading the federal response to the spill resulting from the explosion at the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig.
Which begs the question: Why wasn’t it “time to get better information” a month ago ?
