Interior Secretary Salazar: US Gulf oil spill may be worse than Exxon Valdez — ‘90 days before ultimate solution’
By Ian Talley, Dow Jones Newswires, 202-862-9285; ian.talley@dowjones.com WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)–The BP oil spill in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico may be worse that the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said on CNN Sunday. “The worst-case scenario is we could have 100,000 barrels or more of oil flowing out,” Salazar said on CNN’s State of the Union. BP and the U.S. government have over the past week stuck to their raised estimate of 5,000 barrels a day spilling out of the deepwater well. But Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano said on ABC News that the current spill rate could currently be much higher. “Right now that could be in the tens of thousands of gallons per day, of barrels per day,” she said. Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen said their worst fear is that the well could leak at 100,000 barrels a day, if the well head breaks. Industry experts say that the well pipe appears to be crimped, curbing the potential leak rate. Friday, industry experts said based on satellite images and standard measuring indexes, they estimate the spill rate at 20,000 barrels a day to 25,000 barrels a day. If those rates are accurate, the spill could already rival the 11-million gallon Valdez slick that economically and environmentally devastated part of Alaska. … If the 25,000 barrel-a-day estimate is accurate and the leak lasts for 90 days, that’s 2.25 million barrels, or 94.5 million gallons. …
Interior Secretary Salazar: US Gulf Oil Spill May Be Worse Than Valdez
U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Sunday said it could be 90 days before a relief well is completed to address the Gulf oil spill. “You’re looking at potentially 90 days before you ultimately get to what is the ultimate solution here and that’s a relief well,” Salazar said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” The U.S. government will keep a “boot on the neck” of BP Plc, as it responds to a huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that threatens to become an economic and ecological catastrophe, Salazar said. “Our job basically is to keep the boot on the neck of British Petroleum to carry out the responsibilities they have both under the law and contractually to move forward and stop this spill,” Salazar also told CNN’s “State of the Union” program. He said there was no doubt that a mechanism that prevents oil from blowing out of the BP well was defective, adding that 100,000 barrels or more of oil could leak per day in a worst case scenario. Salazar said the Gulf of Mexico oil spill from a destroyed rig “potentially is catastrophic.” Salazar told CNN’s State of the Union program, “I think we have to prepare for the worst.” He said later in the program that “It is indeed a massive oil spill.” …
