It's Only Getting Worse

BP's imbecilic decision to cut the pipe has likely resulted in oil spewing into the gulf at a rate multiple factors faster than before the cut, not the 20% bandied about by BP and cable news. Aside from clearly not having the capacity to process the majority of oil that could be captured, BP lied about the increase in flow rate that would result from cutting the pipe as part of its continued effort to mitigate its financial responsibility.

From the New York Times:

"'The well pipe clearly is fluxing way more than it did before,' said Dr. Leifer, a researcher at the University of California, Santa Barbara. 'By way more, I don’t mean 20 percent, I mean multiple factors.'"

In fact, "a subgroup that analyzed the plume emerging at the wellhead could offer no upper bound for its flow estimate, and could come up with only a rough idea of the lower bound, which it pegged at 12,000 to 25,000 barrels a day."

12,000 to 25,000 barrels a day MINIMUM. The actual flow rate is likely far higher. BP claims to be capturing 11,000 barrels a day (is this even credible?), meaning that they are probably capturing far less than 44% of the oil erupting into the gulf every day.

BP's estimate that cutting the pipe would only increase oil flow by 20%? A thinly veiled deliberate attempt at deception to deflect public rage. "[F]or several weeks [BP has] publicly rejected the idea of using subsea equipment to measure the flow rate." BP's continued lowballing of flow estimates is a transparent attempt to reduce financial damages that the company will have to pay.

BP should not be in control of this recovery. They should be fully paying for, but not executing, the shutdown of the well and all cleanup. In fact, they should not be allowed anywhere near the recovery effort so that they can not hinder it any longer due to their massive conflict of interest, and so we can finally find out the truth of what is happening.

BP, we hate you for cutting corners and causing the spill, but we hate you even more for your obfuscation, shirking responsibility and outright hindrance of the recovery effort.

[New York Times]