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Posted Thu Apr 29 2010: from
BBC:
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Gulf of Mexico oil slick said to be five times bigger http://apocadocs.com/s.pl?1272542080
The US Coast Guard says five times as much oil as previously thought could be leaking from a well beneath where a rig sank in the Gulf of Mexico last week.
Rear Admiral Mary Landry said 5,000 barrels (210,000 gallons) a day were now thought to be gushing into the sea 50 miles (80km) off Louisiana's coast.
A third leak had also been discovered at the site, Adm Landry said.
One fire-fighting expert told the BBC the disaster might become the "biggest oil spill in the world". "The Exxon Valdez [tanker disaster off Alaska in 1989] is going to pale [into insignificance] in comparison to this as it goes on."
If US Coast Guard estimates are correct, the slick could match the 11m gallons spilt from the Exxon Valdez within less than two months.... With the spill moving towards Louisiana's coast, which contains some 40 percent of the nation's wetlands and spawning grounds for countless fish and birds, she said a "controlled burn" of oil contained by special booms could limit the impact.
Environmental experts say animals nearby might be affected by toxic fumes, but perhaps not as much as if they were coated in oil.
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[Read more stories about:
oil issues, contamination, wetlands]
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'Doc Jim says:
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This British Petroleum-based catastrophe is Becoming a Possible Bottomless Pit of Bad Planning.
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