Videos | ? Latest |
|
? Feature | ? Sports | ? Your Videos |
The size of the Gulf oil spill has now surpassed the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska. Scientists say the oil leak may be twice as big as previously estimated.
The oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico is a lot worse than previously thought.
U.S. scientists say it may have actually been up to two million gallons a day of crude. That would mean more than 100 million gallons may have escaped into the sea.
Although BP is seeking to double the oil it's now collecting, public anger is still high over the handling of the massive spill.
Bobby Jindal, Louisianna Governor, said, "They've not made the data available, they've not made the components of the sub-sea dispersants available, they've not allowed folks to have easy access to the images of oiled wildlife or marshlands or the coastline, and the reality is, this coastline doesn't belong to BP, it doesn't belong to me; it belongs to the people of Louisiana, it belongs to the people of America - they've got a right to see what's happening out there."
Environmentalists say the amount of oil leaking every week is roughly equivalent to the entire Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska 21 years ago.
Philippe Cousteau Junior, Environmentalist, said, "Now, Exxon Valdez, we know, was 11 million gallons it was confined to the surface in Alaska, and caused considerable damage, and the Prince William Sound and the ecosystem and the animals in those regions and many of the communities and the people have not recovered 20 years later."
The US Coast Guard says it will be at least July before BP has the tankers in place to capture the latest estimates for crude flowing from the blown well.
Even if undersea efforts to direct the oil to the surface succeed, it will take weeks to get the proper equipment in place to hold it.