Scientists fear BP spill far worse than thought
Updated 4 hours 0 minutes ago
The scientists say the plumes are depleting the oxygen in the gulf. (AFP: Mark Ralston)
US scientists say they have discovered enormous plumes of oil in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, suggesting that the leak from the blown-out well operated by BP could be far worse than previously estimated.
They are quoted in the New York Times as saying one of the plumes is 16 kilometres long, nearly five-kilometres wide and 91 metres thick.
The scientists say the plumes are depleting the oxygen in the gulf, prompting fears that the process could eventually kill much of the nearby sea life.
The Interior Secretary Ken Salazar says the public has a right to know that the leak will be capped soon.
"That cancer has got be stopped and so we have been working relentlessly in... [assembling] the best group of scientists around the world, working with Secretary Chu and myself, that are providing an oversight to BP and making sure that everything that can be done that holds the well down is being done," he said.
But BP earlier said it was confident it would soon be able to stop the flow of oil.
The US government has now approved the use of dispersants under water near the source of the leak and BP says they are starting to work.
Engineers are also using underwater robots in an attempt to reinsert a tube surrounded by a stopper into the broken pipe.
They hope this will help them siphon the oil to the surface. ...<cont>
Oil spill: US failing to tighten ecological oversight, say activists
Engineers are considering a 'junk shot' " shooting debris into the well as high pressure " to seal the Deepwater Horizon wellhead. Photograph: Daniel Beltra/Greenpeace
The Obama administration waived environmental reviews for 26 new offshore drilling projects even as the BP oil disaster spewed hundreds of thousands of gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico, environmental activists said today.
The charge came as hopes for a quick fix to the Deepwater Horizon spill were dashed when a build-up of crystallised gas blocked pipes in a huge metal containment box that had been built to cap the well. Engineers are now considering a "junk shot", shooting a mix of debris " including shredded tires and golf balls " into the well at high pressure to clog it, said Thad Allen, a US coast guard commander.
With the spill still unchecked and spreading to Alabama's beaches, there was renewed focus on oversight procedures that allowed BP and Transocean to drill without backup plans in place.
The Centre for Biological Diversity said that even after the disaster, the Obama administration did not tighten its oversight of offshore drilling. An investigation by the respected environmental group revealed that since 20 April, when an explosion the Deepwater Horizon rig killed 11 workers, 27 new offshore drilling projects have been approved by the Mineral Management Service (MMS) the regulatory agency responsible for overseeing extraction of oil, gas and other minerals.
All but one project was granted similar exemptions from environmental review as BP. Two were submitted by the UK firm, and made the same claims about oil-rig safety and the implausibility of a spill damaging the environment, the centre said.
"This oil spill has had absolutely no effect on MMS behaviour at all," said Kieran Suckling, the director of the centre. "It's still business as usual which means rubber stamping oil drilling permits with no environmental review."
The charges were the latest in a string of revelations about lax oversight of offshore drilling that, while dating back to the George Bush era, have also damaged the Obama White House. "I don't know where the regulators were on this. They certainly were asleep," Richard Shelby, a Republican senator from Alabama, told CNN today. "This reminds me of a big truck speeding along the Los Angeles freeway with no brakes."... <cont>
