Oil gushing from the BP Oil Spill disaster is now 89 million gallons--more than twice the 42 million estimated--"Holding Hands Otter", Nyac's, death from petroleum-related cancer 20 years after the Exxon-Valdez oil spill.
Considering the "Holding Hands Otter's" death 20 years after the Exxon spill is crucial to understand the devastation the BP spill will cause the environment, even health of people, in the Gulf's oil-saturated areas. The BP Oil Spill is now estimated at Eight times the size of Exxon-Valdez, with numbers and estimates to rise further as scientists analyze video footage of gusher.
The BP Oil Spill--Deepwater Horizon--is now eight times worse than originally thought, more than two times as severe as most recent estimates that were 42 million gallons--now announced at 89 million gallons spewed into the ocean.
A federal panel probing the rate of the oil flow in the Gulf BP Oil Spill has revealed that the size of the disaster is far bigger than previously known or estimated--at least as known by those outside of BP. Earlier worst-case scenario estimates of the Gulf spill had pegged the oil spewing at 42 million gallons.
Now, new estimates have upped that number of spewed BP oil to 89 million gallons from 42, that have spewed into the ocean already--more than double the original estimate--and eight times the size of the Exxon-Valdez oil disaster.
Admiral Thad Allen of the U.S., and the man in charge of federal response to the BP Oil Spill, acknowledges that estimates of the oil flowing into the ocean could grow bigger yet, as scientists continue to analyze HD video of the leaking oil. "I'm not prepared to say anything is the right estimate until we get empirical evidence about flow through a pipe or pressure readings so we know exactly what it [the oil spill reading of gallons into the ocean] is. Everything before that is conjecture," Allen said.
Is there a reason the U.S. has waited nearly two months to verify whether BP was telling the truth or correctly estimating the rate of oil being released from the spill for which it is responsible--but from which the U.S. suffers?
National Guard and other workers are fighting the Oil Spill on land to the best of ability, with sandbags to absorb the oil and rolling out boom. Those efforts in battling the BP Gulf disaster--Deepwater Horizon--may be too little, too late. "You're going to see the effects from the Deepwater Horizon spill for at least a decade, probably more," says Rick Steiner, a scientist who tracked the Exxon-Valdez oil spill and its environmental effects.
Despite oil containment and clean-up efforts, oil is now literally sloshing onto shore and into inland waterways as far as Florida state.
Apparently everyone's forgotten about the "Holding Hands Otter", Nyac, who survived the Exxon-Valdez spill, dying of cancer 20 years later. Nyac one of the two famous otter-holding-hands YouTube video stars, long-time resident of Vancouver Aquarium. Nyac died September 23, 2008--as one of the last surviving sea otters from the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.
Nyac had arrived to the Vancouver Aquarium in 1989---one of Exxon-Valdez's only survivors. The famous "Holding Hands Otter: was also the only known Exxon-Valdez otter survivor to have successfully had a pup, named Kipnuk--Nyac giving birth November 9, 1993.
Nyac's ability to give birth was considered nothing short of miraculous, given the fact that the otter has sustained severe internal damage from effects of the oil in the Exxon-Valdez spill . The "Holding Hands Otter", Nyac, diagnosed with chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia--cancer, for short--a few days before the otter died.
Lymphocytic Leukemia is a cancer that has not been previously reported in sea otters--a cancer associated with contact with petroleum (oil) in other species of animals.
It was believed that, in her death, Nyac would continue to provide vital information on the long-term effects of oil exposure. The "Holding Hands Otter's" death, and cause of death, apparently hasn't been enough to cause deep concern for BP's handling of environment or probable effects on humans.
If the Gulf's BP Oil Spill is at least eight times larger than Exxon-Valdez, the possibly permanent effects on both the environment, animals and humans could be indescribable--but not unforeseen.