BP originally lowballed their estimate of how much oil gushes out
every day to 1000 barrels; then they eventually upped it to 5,000
barrels a day. The reason for the low-balling is to minimize the
penalties they will have to pay per gallon spilled. The amount per
gallon could be as high as $4300 per barrel. The government estimates
range from 19,000 to 25,000 barrels per day and some experts think
that is way too low.
new partially capped gusher. The reason for the HIGH figure is the
same: that means that there is that much less of a spill to be fined.
I guarantee you that they are high-balling the figures. There is a
consequence to their actions that is being overlooked: when they
claimed 1,000 barrels a day, they degree of response was planned based
on that number - which proved entirely inadequate; when they stated
5,000 barrels the response increased accordingly, again to be
overwhelmed by the truth. Now they are causing the same concern: if
they are drawing 10,500 barrels a day into the tanker, they raise
positive expectations in a lie. It is only because the disaster is
already so huge that their new game to save money by mitigating the
number of barrels spilled, will have no further effect on the
desperate conditions. But these people are criminals who are so large
a Corporation that most governments can be bullied, bought or
leveraged to do BP's bidding. They are so used to getting their way
that the CEO can be annoyed that he has to pay so much attention to
the problem that he wants to "get his life back"! They picked the
wrong country to fuck around with this time. The damage is too great
for us to play nice with the arrogant bastards.