This accident is bad but may be a blessing in disguise. It will give us a reason to really push towards clean renewable energy, it will give material examples of why government regulation is imperative, and it will show that while in good times private corporations always want small government, they generally want larger government or bailouts when they get in trouble.
NEW ORLEANS — A massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is even worse than believed and as the government grows concerned that the rig’s operator is ill-equipped to contain it, officials are offering a military response to try to avert a massive environmental disaster along the ecologically fragile U.S. coastline.
Speaking Thursday on NBC’s "Today" show, an executive for BP PLC, which operated the oil rig that exploded and sank last week, said the company would welcome help from the U.S. military.
"We’ll take help from anyone," BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles said.
But time may be running out. Not only was a third leak discovered – which government officials said is spewing five times as much oil into the water than originally estimated – but it might be closer to shore than previously known, and could have oil washing up on shore by Friday.
At the same time, there appeared to be a rift developing between BP and the Coast Guard, which is overseeing the increasingly desperate operation to contain the spill and clean it up.
Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry was emphatic at a hastily called news conference late Wednesday that the new leak was discharging 5,000 barrels a day of sweet crude, not the 1,000 barrels officials had estimated for days since the Deepwater Horizons drilling rig exploded and sank 50 miles off the Louisiana Coast.
Suttles disputed at the same news conference with Landry that the amount of oil spilling into the water had ballooned – or at the company wasn’t able to handle the ongoing operation to contain it.
But early Thursday, he said on "Today" that the leak may be as high as the government’s new estimate. He said there was no way to measure the flow at the seabed and estimates have to come from seeing how much oil makes it to the surface.
"Using the satellite imagery and our overflights, we can now say it looks like it’s more than a thousand. It’s a range," Suttles said. He said the range was up to 5,000 barrels a day.
Louisiana Oil Spill Gets Worse: New Leak Increases Estimated Spill By Five Times
