Deep Sea Oil Plume Confirmed, Now Obama Wants to Kick Ass

John Del Signore

Published Jun 8, 2010

Modified Jun 8, 2010

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The winning sand sculpture in the Fiesta of Five Flags sand sculpture contest at Pensacola Beach, Fla.

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John Del Signore

Published Jun 8, 2010

Modified Jun 8, 2010

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Coast Guard Admiral Thad W. Allen said this morning that BP’s new containment cap had captured 14,482 barrels of oil in the most recent 24-hour period. But there's still much more spilling out; federal studies estimate that anywhere from 12,000 to 25,000 barrels are leaking a day. Some vents on the cap remain open because closing them could create enough pressure that oil would blast through the cap's imperfect seal. And there's probably another reason why BP isn't capturing more oil: The surface ships they have on hand can only receive only 15,000 barrels daily.

"They're groping in the dark because they've never permitted actual estimates to be made," Ian MacDonald, a Florida State oceanography professor, tells ABC. "They said a dozen times on television that 5,000 barrels a day was the rate of this spill, and all their engineering was driven by that. Clearly, they were underestimating what kind of capacity they needed." Over the weekend, oil began washing up on Pensacola Beach in Florida, and many participants in the annual sand sculpture competition took the opportunity to vent their fury at BP, which has repeatedly disregarded safety and environmental rules, according to Washington Post internal investigations over the past decade.

Also pissed, by popular demand, is President Obama, who still sounds about as subdued as Spock no matter how hard he tries. In an interview on The Today Show, the president said, "I don't sit around just talking to experts because this is a college seminar. We talk to these folks because they potentially have the best answers, so I know whose ass to kick." Obama also said he would have fired BP's CEO Tony Hayward over numerous stupid and insensitive comments downplaying the Gulf oil spill, such as "I would like my life back," and, "the environmental impact of this disaster is likely to be very, very modest." Obama told Matt Lauer, "He wouldn't be working for me after any of those statements."

And the government confirmed today that plumes of dispersed oil were spreading far below the ocean surface from the leaking well in the Gulf of Mexico, the Times reports. The tests confirmed findings presented weeks ago by independent researchers, and today Samantha Joye of the University of Georgia said that "a large plume, probably consisting of hydrocarbons from the leak, stretches through the deep ocean for at least 15 miles west of the gushing oil well. Bacteria appear to be consuming the oil-related compounds at a furious pace. That is depleting the water of oxygen though not yet to a level that would kill sea creatures." Below, video of how the oil spill is projected to spread all the way up the east coast this summer. Beaches are overrated, anyway.

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John Del Signore

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Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.

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