T. Boone Pickens was on Morning Joe this morning suggesting that the drilling of the relief well, which not only drills down but also laterally to the source, could take as much as five months. Two months longer than BP estimates. 5,000 barrels per day.
Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reports that there could be as much as 25,000 barrels of oil leaking per day. That's 1,000,000 gallons per day. At that rate, the Deepwater Horizon spill could triple size of the Exxon Valdez spill -- in one month.
And the dispersement chemical they're dumping onto the oil sounds, well, awful:
The chemicals BP is now relying on to break up the steady flow of leaking oil from deep below the Gulf of Mexico could create a new set of environmental problems.
[...]
The exact makeup of the dispersants is kept secret under competitive trade laws, but a worker safety sheet for one product, called Corexit, says it includes 2-butoxyethanol, a compound associated with headaches, vomiting and reproductive problems at high doses.
Lovely. The Gulf of Mexico is rapidly becoming a septic tank -- a septic tank that can spread toxins via the Gulf Stream up the east coast (including Rush Limbaugh's beachfront property).
Shannyn Moore tweeted this about Corexit:
During the 1989 Exxon spill Alaskans called Corexit 9527 (dispersent) HIDES IT 9527.
This has been your Really Depressing Blog Entry of the Day. Thank you and have a nice day.