the Gulf of Mexico oil spill that began with the April 20 explosion and fire on the drilling rig Deepwater Horizon, owned by Transocean Ltd. and leased by BP PLC, which is in charge of cleanup and containment. The blast killed 11 workers. Since then, oil has been pouring into the Gulf from a blown-out undersea well at a rate of at least 210,000 gallons per day.
BP now says it will likely be at least Tuesday before engineers can shoot heavy mud into then blown-out well spewing oil into the Gulf of Mexico.
Source: AP
BP has conceded that more oil is leaking than its initial estimate of 210,000 gallons a day total, and a government team is working to get a handle on exactly how much is flowing. Even under the most conservative estimate, about 6 million gallons have leaked so far, more than half the amount spilled by the Exxon Valdez.
- Coast Guard officials said Saturday the spill's impact now stretches across a 150-mile swath, from Dauphin Island, Ala. to Grand Isle.
- The gooey oil washing into the maze of marshes along the Gulf Coast could prove impossible to remove, leaving a toxic stew lethal to fish and especially wildlife, government officials and independent scientists said.
- The month-old oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico has unleashed a gusher of congressional hearings that may prove nearly as hard to cap as the blown BP well. In an election year rife with political posturing, the spill from the April 20 explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig is proving an easy target for lawmakers, whose fears of being swept out of office by an anti-incumbent wave were reinforced by Tuesday's batch of primaries.
- The White House has tapped former Florida Sen. Bob Graham and ex-EPA Administrator William K. Reilly to lead a presidential commission investigating the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
BP now says it will likely be at least Tuesday before engineers can shoot heavy mud into then blown-out well spewing oil into the Gulf of Mexico.
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