Latest estimate 785 million gallons and counting. Even if it stopped today the effect will catastrophic.
785,000,000 gals / 42 gal/bbl =18,690,476 bbl. This is a bad situation. BP absolutely should be held responsible to clean up the mess. IMO this isn't the governments responsibility other than making sure the mess is satisfactorily cleaned up. The Fed's need to get out of the way an let BP clean it up.
Yet, as bad as this is, why have we not heard about the catastrophic consequences of for example, the Ixtoc spill (below) for which lasted for 11 months? Granted it was not as big of a spill, but what were the consequence of this spill, if any? Did nature over time clean up this mess?
http://blueridgedata.blog...tform.htmlLargest International Oil Well Blowouts (Ordered by Volume)
Date - Well Location, Bbl Spilled
June 1979 - April 1980 Ixtoc I Bahia del Campeche, Mexico 3,300,000
October 1986 Abkatun 91 Bahia del Campeche, Mexico 247,000
April 1977 Ekofisk Bravo North Sea, Norway 202,381
January 1980 Funiwa 5 Forcados, Nigeria 200,000
October 1980 Hasbah 6 Gulf, Saudi Arabia 105,000
December 1971 Iran Marine International Gulf, Iran 100,000
January 1969 Alpha Well 21 Platform A Pacific, CA, USA 100,000
March 1970 Main Pass Block 41 Platform C Gulf of Mexico 65,000
October 1987 Yum II/Zapoteca Bahia del Campeche, Mexico 58,643
December 1970 South Timbalier B-26 Gulf of Mexico, USA 53,095