The worst-case scenario for the broken and leaking well gushing oil into the Gulf of Mexico would be the loss of the wellhead currently restricting the flow to 5,000 barrels -- or 210,000 gallons per day.
If the wellhead is lost, oil could leave the well at a much greater rate, perhaps up to 150,000 barrels -- or more than 6 million gallons per day -- based on government data showing daily production at another deepwater Gulf well.
By comparison, the Exxon Valdez spill was 11 million gallons total. The Gulf spill could end up dumping the equivalent of 4 Exxon Valdez spills per week.
I don't know how to comprehend 6 million gallons per day as compared to 210,000 gallons per day as I understand that the latter is plenty bad enough. But there are two items in this worst-case-scenario description that should be very alarming right off the bat.
First,
"The loss of a wellhead, this is totally unprecedented," said (former NOAA official Ron) Gouget. "How bad it could get from that, you will have a tremendous volume of oil that is going to be offgassing on the coast. Depending on how much wind is there, and how those gases build up, that's a significant health concern.""Offgassing" sounds very unpleasant and it raises the possibility in my mind of evacuation or relocations of a very large number of coastal residents which... well that's pretty darn apocalyptic right there.
Second,
Minerals Management Service data indicates that the deepwater Thunderhorse production platform, also owned by BP, has produced up to 150,000 barrels per day.The company we are currently still entrusting with the bulk of the clean-up operation here named a piece of equipment Thunderhorse which sounds like a pet name Alex Rodriguez would keep for himself.
In either case, I am not impressed.
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