What's with all the wild assumptions and half-assed calculations for what might be leaking out of the busted well in the Gulf of Mexico? Early estimates put the leak at 5,000 barrels a day. At 42 gallons a barrel, that would be 210,000 gallons per day. Now some are estimating that it could be a million or more gallons per day. Why is this so tough? I am not an oil and gas expert, but how much oil was being produced daily before the blowout? Someone, somewhere, has the answer to this simple question.
Some cursory research on the internet provided me with an average production for a typical oil well of between 100 and 300 barrels per day. This seems kind of low to me, so for the sake of argument let's assume that the BP well was producing 1000 barrels per day. That would equate to 42,000 gallons of crude per day. I also learned that wells can produce a large amount of water along with the oil and gas that is produced. How much of what we see on the ubiquitous gushercam is oil? A spill is a spill, so no amount of petrochemicals in our waters are a good thing, but let's not go off half-cocked when trying to estimate the real size of the problem. In any event, why should we care about the real size of the leak. Our fearless president will keep his boot on the neck of BP until all is well. Right?
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Let's hope enough pressure can be put on both political parties & both sides of the political spectrum keep their "boot on the neck of BP until all is well"
ReplyDeleteWhat's scary is if the Republicans do win control of the US House of Representatives this fall, who will be in charge of overseeing the oil & energy industry?? JOE BARTON---The top Republican on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
And we all know how Joe Barton feels about the birds, the marshlands and Gulf coast beaches being fill with oil---He feels BP is owed an apology
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/17/AR2010061704769.html
What's equally scary is how Democrats are denouncing those within their party who are critical of the federal government's response to BP's Oil Spill---Specifically, James Carville----who's been a critic of the White House response almost from Day One.
http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_15184265
http://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/online-few-liberals-listening-to-carvilles-obama-attacks-95968984.html
Instead of positioning in the best political light, or defending rather then reacting positively to those within your party who are critical of your inaction, or giving homage to the lobbyist who gave you money---- What is relly needed is those who are inept be called on the carpet, like Republican Jeff Miller from Florida did after he hear Barton's suck up to BP, and James Carville's lambasting of the Obama administration.
Only with continued pressure, will the "boot" remain "on the neck of BP"