Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, the leader of the Federal response to BP's oil spill, says that BP siphoned off 25,000 barrels of oil yeterday from its leaking well in the Gulf of Mexico.
This represents an increase of about 10,000 barrels per day over previous levels. The expanded capacity comes from a new vessel, the Q4000, which can augment the 18,000 barrel per day capacity of the vessel currently on site.
According to new estimates released this week, between 35,000 and 60,000 barrels per day are flowing into the Gulf. Depending on what the actual flow rate is, that means 25,000 barrels may represent between 40 and 70 percent of the total flow.
Meanwhile, in other news, a new report indicates that BP knew of cracks in their well as far back as February, two months before the explosion that opened up the leak. So it's not just that the knew they could very well have problems -- it's that they knew they already had problems. That pretty much defines reckless and irresponsible.
continued at Daily Kos....
