Number One: BP Oil now owns the worst oil spill in US history

It was something BP was hoping to avoid.

By low-balling their estimate of how much oil escaped each day into the Gulf of Mexico after the April 20 blow-out that killed 11 men, BP was hoping to escape the Number One ranking.


["Exxon Valdez - an ecological disaster at work"]

“In the previous worst US oil spill, in March 1989, the tanker Exxon Valdez hit an undersea reef in Prince William Sound, Alaska, spilling nearly 260,000 barrels of oil into the sea.” (May 28, London Free Press)

BP’s numbers - 5,000 barrels per day.

US Geological Survey numbers - 12,000 - 19,000, maybe as high as 25,000 barrels per day.


["Who?"]

At the mid-point rate, i.e., 19,000 barrels per day, the killer blow-out has sent 722,000 barrels of oil into the Gulf in 38 days.

At 19,000 barrels per day, BP owned the Number One spot on May 3rd, over 3 weeks ago.

Exxon Valdez who?

.