It turns out, BP's estimates of the oil billowing into the gulf may have been off by a factor of two, or greater:
The new calculation suggested that an amount of oil equivalent to the Exxon Valdez disaster could have been flowing into the Gulf of Mexico every 8 to 10 days.
This assessment, based on measurements taken before BP cut the riser pipe of the leaking well on June 3 to cap some of the flow, showed that approximately 25,000 to 30,000 barrels of oil could have been gushing into the Gulf each day. That is far above the previous estimate of 12,000 to 19,000 barrels a day.
And this:
"It is technically not [Obama's] job as president to console families of men who died off shore," said Keith Jones, a Baton Rouge lawyer whose 28-year-old son, Gordon, a mud engineer, died in the explosion. “But he made it his business and we’re grateful for it."
"I don't know what people expected the president to do exactly, if they want him to go out there and wash pelicans," Jones said. "He's the president. He's not someone who cleans beaches. It's important for us Louisianans to know that we have his support and I think he's communicated that."
We won't know for months how bad this is, but you remember all those "worst-case" scenarios? Those might have been underestimates, too.