When estimates of the size of BP's oil spill in the Gulf quickly shifted from no leak to 1,000 barrels a day to 5,000 barrels a day—with BP telling members of Congress the daily flow could rise up to 60,000 barrels—it was pretty obvious the estimates weren't entirely reliable.
As it turns out, after BP finally released 30 seconds of video footage of the spill on Wednesday, one expert told NPR that crude was gushing out at a rate of 70,000 barrels a day, which is even worse than the worst-case estimate BP gave lawmakers. According to the experts cited by NPR, the spill is "already far larger than the 1989 Exxon Valdez accident in Alaska, which spilled at least 250,000 barrels of oil."
The New York Times points out that BP has repeatedly claimed that "there's just no way to measure" the leak, and said that its highest priority has been stopping it—not measuring it. The government, much like the company, has been slow to seek better measurements of the spill, according to The Times, even though scientists stood ready with techniques to do so:
rest at http://www.propublica.org/ion/blog/item/gulf-oil-spill-update-way-worse-than-they-told-us#15024
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