inothernews:

I hope this means the media will stop doing the “Oooooh, there’s no more oil on the SURFACE, that means the problem is OVER!!!” stories.

Via the New York Times:

The BP oil spill is by far the world’s largest accidental release of oil, according to the most precise estimates yet of the well’s flow rate announced by federal scientists on Monday.

Nearly five million barrels of oil have gushed from BP’s well since the Deepwater Horizon rig spill began on April 20, according to the latest data, an amount that outstrips the estimated 3.3 million barrels spilled into the Bay of Campeche by the Mexican rig Ixtoc I in 1979, previously believed to be the world’s largest accidental release.

The BP spill was already believed to be the largest offshore spill in American history, but earlier estimates by BP and the government — which were widely disputed — suggested that this spill was smaller than Ixtoc.

“We’ve never had a spill of this magnitude in the deep ocean,” said Ian R. MacDonald, a professor of oceanography at Florida State University.

“These things reverberate through the ecosystem. It is an ecological echo chamber and I think we’ll be hearing the echoes of this, ecologically, for the rest of my life.”

3:52 am  •  3 August 2010  •  15 notes