June 17, 2010 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0967724805?ie=UTF8&tag=doc06-20&link...
Watch the full testimony: http://thefilmarchived.blogspot.com/2010/08/bp-oil-spill-tony-haywards-testim...
The Deepwater Horizon spill has surpassed in volume the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill as the largest ever to originate in U.S.-controlled waters; it is comparable to the 1979 Ixtoc I oil spill in total volume released (Ixtoc discharged 140 to 148 million gallons; as of June 16, Deepwater Horizon has discharged 73 to 126 million gallons).
In their permit to drill the well, BP estimated the worst case flow at 162,000 barrels (6,800,000 US gallons; 25,800 cubic metres) per day. BP initially estimated that the wellhead was leaking only 1,000 barrels (42,000 US gallons; 160 cubic metres) a day. On April 28, 2010, based on satellite pictures, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimated that the leak was likely 5,000 barrels (210,000 US gallons; 790 cubic metres) a day. Geologist and oil industry consultant Simon James Hesketh said a more realistic figure was 20,000 barrels (840,000 US gallons; 3,200 cubic metres) a day and oceanographer Ian MacDonald and other sources using satellite imagery put the number as high as 25,000 barrels (1,100,000 US gallons; 4,000 cubic metres) a day. According to BP, estimating the flow is very difficult as there is no metering of the flow underwater and because of the presence of natural gas in the outflow. The company initially refused to allow scientists to perform more accurate, independent measurements of the flow, claiming that it is not relevant to the response and that such efforts might distract from efforts to stem the flow. Former Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency Carol Browner and Congressman Ed Markey (D-MA) both accused BP of having a vested financial interest in downplaying the size of the leak.
On May 12, BP released a 30 second video of the spill at the site of the broken pipe. Experts contacted by National Public Radio and shown the footage put the leak rate substantially higher than the early estimate. Timothy Crone, an associate research scientist at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, estimated at least 50,000 barrels (2,100,000 US gallons; 7,900 cubic metres) a day was leaking from the well by using another well-accepted method to calculate fluid flows. Eugene Chaing, a professor of astrophysics at the University of California, Berkeley, estimated the leak to be 20,000--100,000 barrels (840,000--4,200,000 US gallons; 3,200--16,000 cubic metres) a day. Steven Wereley, an associate professor at Purdue University used particle image velocimetry to initially arrive at a rate of 70,000 barrels (2,900,000 US gallons; 11,000 cubic metres) per day, with a margin of error of 20 percent.
On May 24, Admiral Thad Allen announced that the director of the United States Geological Survey (USGS), Marcia McNutt, is leading the Flow Rate Technical Group — scientists from the U.S. Coast Guard, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Minerals Management Service, the United States Department of Energy and academics outside government tasked with providing the government with an independent scientific assessment of the scope of the disaster and of BP's efforts to stop the flow of oil. The Flow Rate Technical Group initially put the volume of oil flowing from the blown-out well at 12,000 to 19,000 barrels (500,000 to 800,000 US gallons; 1,900 to 3,000 cubic metres) per day, and the government increased its official estimate to that range on May 27. While the United States Geological Survey put forth that range as the best estimate for the lower and upper boundaries of flow rate, other scientists involved in drafting the figure viewed it as an estimated minimum. According to Ira Leifer, a member of the Flow Rate Technical Group, the group was only provided a seven minute segment of low-quality video selected by BP, which showed a lot of variability from very low to very high flows.
On June 10, based on additional video, members of the Flow Rate Technical Group calculated updated estimates for the period prior to the cutting of the riser pipe and the insertion of the Riser Insertion Tube Tool (RITT). The majority concluded that, given the limited data available and the small amount of time to process that data, the best estimate for the average flow rate was likely between 25,000 and 30,000 barrels (1,100,000 and 1,300,000 US gallons; 4,000 and 4,800 cubic metres) per day, with a lower limit of 20,000 barrels (840,000 US gallons; 3,200 cubic metres) per day and an upper limit of 40,000 barrels (1,700,000 US gallons; 6,400 cubic metres) per day. The new calculation suggested that an amount of oil equivalent to the Exxon Valdez disaster could have been flowing into the Gulf of Mexico every 8 to 10 days.
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BP Oil Spill - Donna Christensen, Peter Welch, Gene Green & Betty Sutton (2010-4)by thefilmarchive1,298 views
good job, jan!(:
crazybeautifulife 1 year ago