Longest-running oil spill in history releasing more than 4,500 gallons per day

(Gerald Herbert/AP)
Darryl Fears Reporter focusing on the Chesapeake Bay and issues affecting wildlife

June 24 at 10:00 AM
The federal government’s first study of the nearly 15-year-long oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico estimates that up to 108 barrels per day — more than 4,500 gallons — is flowing from a site where an oil company’s platform and wells were destroyed during a hurricane. Even one of the federal report’s authors — Ian MacDonald, the Florida State professor — estimated that nearly 150 barrels, about 6,300 gallons, spilled from the site that Taylor Energy once leased in an underwater canyon 12 miles off the coast of Louisiana. The study concludes that the oil and gas releases at the site are coming from multiple wells, contradicting Taylor Energy’s explanation that it’s rising from oil-soaked sediment.

Source: www.washingtonpost.com