Gulf of Mexico oil spill called worst in U.S. history

There's no end in sight for the situation in the Gulf of Mexico. Anderson Cooper reports live tonight from the region as BP attempts to stop the leak. Watch "AC360°" tonight at 10 ET on CNN for the latest on stopping the leak.

Venice, Louisiana (CNN) -- The Gulf of Mexico undersea gusher has already spilled more oil than the Exxon Valdez disaster -- possibly more than twice as much, making it the largest oil spill in U.S. history -- government scientists said Thursday.

Scientists observed 130,000 to 270,000 barrels of oil on the water's surface on May 17, and think a similar amount had already been burned, skimmed, dispersed or evaporated.

That would mean 260,000 to 520,000 barrels had been leaked as of 10 days ago. The Exxon Valdez leaked about 250,000 barrels into Alaska's Prince William Sound in 1989.

The estimate came as an underwater tussle between oil and mud unfolded in BP's latest attempt to cap the runaway leak. But whether mud is able to defeat oil won't be known until later Thursday.


Federal authorities remained cautiously optimistic about the maneuver known as a top kill, which BP started Wednesday afternoon.




http://mfile.akamai.com/97892/live/reflector:45685.asx?bkup=49182

"The top kill procedure is going as planned, and it is moving along as everyone had hoped," said U.S. Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, who is leading the government's response to the oil spill.

A BP official said it was too early to draw any conclusions about the success of the effort.

"We appreciate the optimism, but the top kill operation is continuing through the day today -- that hasn't changed," the official said. "We don't anticipate being able to say anything definitive on that until later today."


Meanwhile, government scientists said Thursday that the undersea gusher was spewing oil at a rate of 12,000 to 19,000 barrels a day, more than twice the 5,000-barrel estimate given by BP.

The government had two different teams of scientists estimate the rate of flow using two different methods, U.S. Geological Survey Director Marcia McNutt said.

Also Thursday, sources said that Minerals Management Service Director Elizabeth Birnbaum has been fired.

A senior Obama administration official said an official announcement will be made during the president's news conference scheduled for Thursday afternoon.

The decision to fire Birnbaum comes after a recently released report highlighting what many observers have characterized as widespread corruption at the Minerals Management Service, which is part of the Interior Department.

A dramatic video feed from the ocean floor showed enormous brown plumes billowing at the well. BP Managing Director Bob Dudley described it as a "titanic arm wrestling match" between the gushing oil and the thousands of pounds of drilling mud -- a thick, viscous fluid -- being pumped in to stop the flow.

So far, "that operation is proceeding like we would expect it," Dudley said.

If the mud succeeds in pushing back the oil, BP plans to seal the well with cement.


That response is sure to generate more questions for President Obama, who has come under fire for not doing enough.

Obama fought back the criticism Thursday by announcing that he is delaying oil exploration off the coast of Alaska, canceling the sale of a lease to drill off Virginia and extending the moratorium on permits to drill any new deepwater wells for six months, a White House official said.

He has also launched a presidential commission's safety review of offshore drilling in response to the incident.

He was expected to discuss other recommendations that came from a 30-day review he ordered shortly after the April 20 explosion aboard the drilling rig Deepwater Horizon that triggered the leak and left 11 men missing and presumed dead.

"If it's successful, and there are no guarantees, it should greatly reduce or eliminate the flow of oil now streaming into the Gulf from the sea floor," Obama said after discussing the top kill procedure with Energy Secretary Steven Chu, who was in Houston, Texas, at the command center. "And if it's not, there are other approaches that may be viable."

But he didn't elaborate on what he meant by "other approaches."

No fewer than four congressional hearings were scheduled Thursday regarding the spill. The committees were set to hear from oil rig workers and their families. Lamar McKay, chairman and president of BP America, and Steven Newman, president and CEO of Transocean, owner of the oil rig that exploded and sank, were also expected to testify.

Democratic Rep. Jim Moran, head of a key House appropriations subcommittee, told Interior Secretary Ken Salazar he "will be responsible" for ensuring there isn't a repeat of the oil spill "catastrophe" in the Gulf of Mexico.

Salazar said he remains "very confident and resolute that we will solve the problem."


Early Thursday morning, the Unified Command in Louisiana said it recalled all 125 commercial vessels in Breton Sound, Louisiana, after four crew members in three vessels involved in the oil recovery operations reported feeling sick.

Medics were going boat to boat to evaluate crew members as a precaution, Lt. Cmdr. Rob Wyman said.

The four crew members, who prompted the recall, reported feeling nauseated and dizzy, and complained of headaches and chest pains, the Deepwater Horizon Incident Joint Information Center said.

The other crew members on those boats declined treatment at the dock.

"No other personnel are reporting symptoms, but we are taking this action as an extreme safeguard," Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Robinson Cox said.

All four crew members were taken to West Jefferson Medical Center outside New Orleans. Hospital spokeswoman Taslin Alfonzo said that in addition to the four, the medical center also received three other men who were working on the spill cleanup.

The vessels were involved in cleaning up oil that has been gushing into the Gulf of Mexico since the oil rig sank about 40 miles south of Louisiana.


If BP's top kill procedure fails, an attempt would be made to contain more of the flow than is currently being siphoned through a riser insertion tool, according to Doug Suttles, the company's chief operating officer.

That would likely be followed by an attempt to place another blowout preventer on top of the existing one, which failed, he said.

"Everyone has experienced a great deal of frustration that we're 30-some odd days into this oil spill and we haven't yet contained the flow," Suttles said. But, he added, "We're doing everything we can to bring it to closure."

BP Gulf Oil Spill Underwater Cam

Here is a nice cam of the underwater BP Gulf Oil Spill. Today BP plans on performing the Top-Kill procedure to turn off the leaking well.

You can watch the Top-Kill being performed here today.





http://mfile.akamai.com/97892/live/reflector:45683.asx?bkup=45684

BREAKING!! Obama tells military: "Prepare for North Korea aggression !!"

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama has directed the U.S. military to coordinate with South Korea to "ensure readiness" and deter future aggression from North Korea, the White House said on Monday.

The United States gave strong backing to plans by South Korean President Lee Myung-bak to punish North Korea for sinking one of its naval ships, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said in a statement.

The White House urged North Korea to apologize and change its behavior, he said.

"We endorse President Lee's demand that North Korea immediately apologize and punish those responsible for the attack, and, most importantly, stop its belligerent and threatening behavior," Gibbs said.

"U.S. support for South Korea's defense is unequivocal, and the president has directed his military commanders to coordinate closely with their Republic of Korea counterparts to ensure readiness and to deter future aggression," he said.

Obama and Lee have agreed to meet at the G20 summit in Canada next month, he said.

Late last week, a team of international investigators accused North Korea of torpedoing the Cheonan corvette in March, killing 46 sailors in one of the deadliest clashes between the two since the 1950-53 Korean War.

Lee said on Monday South Korea would bring the issue before the U.N., whose past sanctions have damaged the already ruined North Korean economy.

The United States still has about 28,000 troops in South Korea to provide military support.

The two Koreas, still technically at war, have more than 1 million troops near their border.

"We will build on an already strong foundation of excellent cooperation between our militaries and explore further enhancements to our joint posture on the Peninsula as part of our ongoing dialogue," Gibbs said.

Gibbs said the United States supported Lee's plans to bring the issue to the United Nations Security Council and would work with allies to "reduce the threat that North Korea poses to regional stability."

Obama had also directed U.S. agencies to evaluate existing policies toward North Korea.

"This review is aimed at ensuring that we have adequate measures in place and to identify areas where adjustments would be appropriate," he said.

Gulf Oil Spill: White House Covers Up Menacing Oil "Blob"

In an exclusive for Oilprice.com, the Wayne Madsen Report (WMR) has learned from Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers sources that U.S. Navy submarines deployed to the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean off the Florida coast have detected what amounts to a frozen oil blob from the oil geyser at the destroyed Deep Horizon off-shore oil rig south of Louisiana. The Navy submarines have trained video cameras on the moving blob, which remains frozen at depths of between 3,000 to 4,000 feet. Because the oil blob is heavier than water, it remains frozen at current depths.

FEMA and Corps of Engineers employees are upset that the White House and the Pentagon remain tight-lipped and in cover-up mode about the images of the massive and fast-moving frozen coagulated oil blob that is being imaged by Navy submarines that are tracking its movement. The sources point out that BP and the White House conspired to withhold videos from BP-contracted submersibles that showed the oil geyser that was spewing oil from the chasm underneath the datum of the Deep Horizon at rates far exceeding originally reported amounts. We have learned that it was largely WMR's scoop on the existence of the BP videos that forced the company and its White House patrons to finally agree to the release of the video footage.

The White House is officially stating that it does not know where the officially reported 10 miles long by 3 miles wide "plume" is actually located or in what direction it is heading. However, WMR's sources claim the White House is getting real-time reports from Navy submarines as to the blob's location. We have learned that the blob is transiting the Florida Straits between Florida and Cuba, propelled by the Gulf's Loop Current, and that parts of it that is encountering warmer waters are breaking off into smaller tar balls that are now washing ashore in the environmentally-sensitive Florida Keys and Dry Tortugas.

Corps of Engineers and FEMA officials are also livid about the cover-up of the extent of the oil damage being promulgated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and its marine research vessel in the Gulf, RV Pelican. NOAA stands accused by the aforementioned agencies of acting as a virtual public relations arm for BP. NOAA is a component of the business-oriented Department of Commerce.

Similarly, the Coast Guard, which takes its orders from the cover-up operatives at the Homeland Security Department, is denying the tar balls washing up on the Florida Keys are from the oil mass. WMR has been told the Coast Guard is lying in order to protect the Obama administration, which has thoroughly failed in its response to the disaster. The White House's only concern is trying to limit political damage to its image in the electorally-important state of Florida while the Pentagon has spent between $25 and $30 billion on oil spill operations in the Gulf and the Atlantic to date.

WMR sources also report that the oil mass has resulted in dead zones in the Gulf of Mexico that have cut off oxygen and killed massive numbers of marine creatures and plant life. Seafood wholesalers from the Gulf Coast to New Jersey and New York have been told that the supply of shrimp, oysters, and other seafood from the Gulf is severely in short supply and that they can expect a possible total cut-off as the situation worsens. The shortage will also affect the supply of seafood, especially shrimp, to national seafood restaurant chains like Red Lobster and Long John Silver's.

There is also evidence that BP, Halliburton, and Transocean sank a drill to a depth of 35,000 feet at the Deep Horizon site some six months ago without the required permits from the federal government. WMR has learned from U.S. government sources that the drilling at 35,000 feet caused a major catastrophic event that required the firms' oil rig personnel to quickly pull up the drill and close the drill hole.

However, the Deep Horizon re-sank the drill some six months after the unspecified "catastrophe," resulting in another, more destructive chain of events following the explosion that destroyed the rig, killing eleven workers. When the Deep Horizon blew up, WMR has been told it also "blew down," cracking the the sub-seabed pipe that may have been re-drilled to a depth of between 25,000 to 30,000 feet, again, without a government permit.

Government sources also report that BP is intent on recovering as much oil as possible from the undersea geyser rather than simply plugging and capping the well, which would then place it off-limits to further drilling. The Corps of Engineers reports that BP is playing a game with Obama, convincing him of the feasibility of "shooting junk" into the subterranean pipe, which would stop up the pipe with a manufactured chemical compound called "MUD." However, WMR has been informed that BP actually intends to shoot cement into the pipe in an attempt to cap the well with the later intention of digging a trench for side drilling from the pipe to recover as much oil as possible. The technology that would be employed by BP is the same technology that was used by Kuwait to conduct slant drilling of Iraq's Rumallah oil field -- an event that helped trigger Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.

Corps of Engineers and FEMA sources also give a failing grade to both Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who stands accused of being woefully incompetent in handling the disaster, and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. Government sources say both secretaries should immediately step down or be fired.

New NASA image shows Gulf spill expanding as tar balls wash up on Key West

New NASA image shows Gulf spill expanding as tar balls wash up on Key West

This morning via Twitter, NASA released a satellite photo taken yesterday showing that ocean currents are pushing the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico toward the southeast. And indeed, reports surfaced last night that 20 tar balls had washed up on the shores of Key West, Florida, stoking fears that the loop current may be carrying the oil around the Florida peninsula and up the East Coast.

That doesn't mean, however, that the Louisiana coast isn't still in peril. The photo shows that a large portion of the spill remains in those coastal waters, just off the mouth of the Mississippi River. Only now, it also has a long tail extending across the Gulf toward the southeast:

Just yesterday the Associated Press reported that scientists were "increasingly worried that huge plumes of crude already spilled could get caught in a current that would carry the mess all the way to the Florida Keys and beyond, damaging coral reefs and killing wildlife." Researchers have sent the Key West tar balls — reported to be 3 to 8 inches in diameter — to a lab for testing to determine their precise origin. Last week, similar tar balls were washing up on the Louisiana and Alabama shorelines.

Gulf oil spill: firms ignored warning signs before blast, inquiry hears

Gulf oil spill: firms ignored warning signs before blast, inquiry hears
Documents suggest BP, Transocean and Halliburton ignored tests indicating faulty safety equipment, says committee


The Deepwater Horizon oil rig burning last month. Photograph: KPA/Zuma/Rex Features

BP was aware of equipment problems aboard the Deepwater Horizon rig hours before the explosion pumped millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, a congressional hearing was told yesterday .

In a second day of hearings, the House of Representatives's energy and commerce committee said documents and company briefings suggested that BP, which owned the well; Transocean, which owned the rig; and Halliburton, which made the cement casing for the well, ignored tests in the hours before the 20 April explosion that indicated faulty safety equipment.

"Yet it appears the companies did not suspend operations, and now 11 workers are dead and the gulf faces an environmental catastrophe," Henry Waxman, the chair of the energy and commerce committee, said, demanding to know why work was not stopped.

The committee heard testimony from oil executives suggesting multiple failures of safety systems that should have given advance warning of a blowout, or should have promptly cut off the flow of oil.

The failures included a dead battery in the blowout preventer, suggestions of a breach in the well casing, and failure in the shear ram, a device of last resort that was supposed to cut through and seal the drill pipe in the event of a blowout.

"Already we have uncovered at least four significant problems with the blowout preventer used on the Deepwater Horizon drill rig," said Bart Stupak, a Democrat from Michigan who chairs the oversight subcommittee.

The examination was far tougher on the oil companies than the Senate hearings on Tuesday. BP also faced a financial sting as the White House asked Congress to approve $118m in recovery costs, to be passed on to the oil company.

While the committee accused the oil industry of failing to anticipate the dangers of offshore drilling, senators John Kerry and Joe Lieberman unveiled a climate and energy bill that for the first time will put a price on carbon and require American cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.

Kerry said he believed the oil spill would give impetus to the American Power Act. "This a bill for energy independence after a devastating oil spill, a bill to hold polluters accountable, a bill for billions of dollars to create the next generation of jobs and a bill to end America's addiction to foreign oil."

But after eight months of careful courtship of industry and political opposition, the bill has no Republican backers after Senator Lindsey Graham, a co-author, withdrew his support last month and the immediate response from industry groups and mainstream environmental groups was guarded.

Passage of the law is seen as crucial to a global deal on climate change. The 987-page bill was carefully positioned to secure support from industry and moderate Republicans, making the final product far weaker than environmental organisations wanted.

In response to the oil disaster, the bill moderated its original support for offshore drilling, giving states veto power over projects in waters 75 miles from their shores. States that go ahead will be able to keep a bigger share, 37%, of federal revenues from drilling.

Otherwise the bill calls for 12 nuclear plants and sets aside $2bn for research into clean coal. Greenpeace condemned it as a "dirty energy bailout", with director Phil Radford adding: "It seems that after a year and a half wrangling, the only people who can be happy with this bill are the fossil fuel industry lobbyists."

The bill aims for a 17% cut in emissions over 2005 levels, the same weak target enshrined in a bill passed by the House in June last year. But the Senate version would apply to a smaller share of the US economy. Heavy industries would not be required to cut emissions until 2016.

The bill would stop the Environmental Protection Agency regulating greenhouse gases and would scrap region cap and trade systems now underway in two dozen states and Canadian provinces.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/12/deepwater-gulf-oil-spill-hearing

Gulf Oil Spill Much Worse Then BP Reporting

My previous post about BP lowballing the Gulf Oil spill leak has some weight to it. CNN reported that the leak is up to 70k barrels a day based on video of the leaking pipe. That is 2,940,000 gallons DAILY flowing into the gulf !

In the 3 weeks since the disaster, 61,740,000 gallon of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

(CNN) -- A U.S. congressman said he will launch a formal inquiry Friday into how much oil is gushing into the Gulf of Mexico after learning of independent estimates that are significantly higher than the amount BP officials have provided.

Rep. Edward Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts, said he will send a letter to BP and ask for more details from federal agencies about the methods they are using to analyze the oil leak. Markey, who chairs a congressional subcommittee on energy and the environment, said miscalculating the spill's volume may be hampering efforts to stop it.

"I am concerned that an underestimation of the oil spill's flow may be impeding the ability to solve the leak and handle the management of the disaster," he said in a statement Thursday. "If you don't understand the scope of the problem, the capacity to find the answer is severely compromised."

BP officials have said 5,000 barrels per day of crude, or 210,000 gallons, have been leaking for the past three weeks.

But a researcher at Purdue University has predicted that about 70,000 barrels of oil per day are gushing into the Gulf after analyzing videos of the spill.



BP 'making it up as they go along'


Purdue University
Associate professor Steve Wereley said he arrived at that number after spending two hours Thursday analyzing video of a spill using a technique called particle image velocimetry. He said there is a 20 percent margin of error, which means between 56,000 and 84,000 barrels could be leaking daily.

"You can't say with precision, but you can see there's definitely more coming out of that pipe than people thought. It's definitely not 5,000 barrels a day," Wereley said.

He said he reached his estimate of 70,000 barrels per day by calculating how far and how fast oil particles were moving in the video.

Markey's statement said that officials from BP, Transocean and Halliburton estimated a worst-case-scenario maximum flow at 60,000 barrels a day during congressional testimony May 4.

More than 260,000 barrels of oil spilled during the 1989 wreck of the supertanker Exxon Valdez in Alaska's Prince William Sound.

BP spokesman Mark Proegler said that the company stands by its 5,000 barrels per day estimate. He said the company reached that number using data, satellite images and consultation with the Coast Guard and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. But there is no way to calculate a definite amount, he said.

"We are focused on stopping the leak and not measuring it," he said.

Oil has been gushing into the gulf since April, when an explosion sank the Deepwater Horizon drill rig. The blast left 11 workers lost at sea.

BP said Thursday that it would attempt to insert a new section of pipe into the riser of its damaged undersea well to capture the leaking oil.

A previous effort to cap the gusher with a four-story containment dome failed when natural gas crystals collected inside the structure, plugging an outlet at the top.

BP, the Coast Guard, and state and local authorities have scrambled to keep the oil from reaching shore or the ecologically delicate coastal wetlands off Louisiana. They have burned off patches of the slick, deployed more than 280 miles of protective booms, skimmed as much as 4 million gallons of oily water off the surface of the Gulf and pumped more than 400,000 gallons of chemical dispersants onto the oil.

Investigators are still trying to determine what caused the April 20 explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon.

BP has blamed drilling contractor Transocean Ltd., which owned the rig. Transocean says BP was responsible for the wellhead's design and that oilfield services contractor Halliburton was responsible for cementing the well shut once drilled. And Halliburton says its workers were just following BP's orders, but that Transocean was responsible for maintaining the rig's blowout preventer.

Obama uses Connecticut Soc. Sec. #

Investigators: Obama uses Connecticut Soc. Sec. #
3 experts insist White House answer new questions about documentation

NEW YORK – Two private investigators working independently are asking why President Obama is using a Social Security number set aside for applicants in Connecticut while there is no record he ever had a mailing address in the state.

In addition, the records indicate the number was issued between 1977 and 1979, yet Obama's earliest employment reportedly was in 1975 at a Baskin-Robbins ice-cream shop in Oahu, Hawaii.

WND has copies of affidavits filed separately in a presidential eligibility lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia by Ohio licensed private investigator Susan Daniels and Colorado private investigator John N. Sampson.

The investigators believe Obama needs to explain why he is using a Social Security number reserved for Connecticut applicants that was issued at a date later than he is known to have held employment.

The Social Security website confirms the first three numbers in his ID are reserved for applicants with Connecticut addresses, 040-049.

"Since 1973, Social Security numbers have been issued by our central office," the Social Security website explains. "The first three (3) digits of a person's social security number are determined by the ZIP code of the mailing address shown on the application for a social security number."

The question is being raised amid speculation about the president's history fueled by an extraordinary lack of public documentation. Along with his original birth certificate, Obama also has not released educational records, scholarly articles, passport documents, medical records, papers from his service in the Illinois state Senate, Illinois State Bar Association records, any baptism records and adoption papers.

Robert Siciliano, president and CEO of IDTheftSecurity.com and a nationally recognized expert on identity theft, agrees the Social Security number should be questioned.

"I know Social Security numbers have been issued to people in states where they don't live, but there's usually a good reason the person applied for a Social Security number in a different state," Siciliano told WND.

WND asked Siciliano whether he thought the question was one the White House should answer.

"Yes," he replied. "In the case of President Obama, I really don't know what the good reason would be that he has a Social Security number issued in Connecticut when we know he was a resident of Hawaii."

Siciliano is a frequent expert guest on identify theft on cable television networks, including CNN, CNBC and the Fox News Channel.

Daniels and Sampson each used a different database showing Obama is using a Social Security number beginning with 042.

WND has further confirmed that the Social Security number in question links to Obama in the online records maintained by the Selective Service System. Inserting the Social Security number, his birth date and his last name produces a valid Selective Service number.


To verify the number was issued by the Social Security Administration for applicants in Connecticut, Daniels used a Social Security number verification database. She found that the numbers immediately before and immediately after Obama's were issued to Connecticut applicants between the years 1977 and 1979.

"There is obviously a case of fraud going on here," Daniels maintained. "In 15 years of having a private investigator's license in Ohio, I've never seen the Social Security Administration make a mistake of issuing a Connecticut Social Security number to a person who lived in Hawaii. There is no family connection that would appear to explain the anomaly."

Does the Social Security Administration ever re-issue Social Security numbers?

"Never," Daniels said. "It's against the law for a person to have a re-issued or second Social Security number issued."

Daniels said she is "staking my reputation on a conclusion that Obama's use of this Social Security number is fraudulent."

There is no indication in the limited background documentation released by the Obama 2008 presidential campaign or by the White House to establish that Obama ever lived in Connecticut.

Nor is there any suggestion in Obama's autobiography, "Dreams from My Father," that he ever had a Connecticut address.

Also, nothing can be found in the public record that indicates Obama visited Connecticut during his high-school years.

Sampson's affidavit specifies that as a result of his formal training as an immigration officer and his 27-year career in professional law enforcement, "it is my knowledge and belief that Social Security numbers can only be applied for in the state in which the applicant habitually resides and has their official residence."

Daniels told WND she believes Obama had a different Social Security number when he worked as a teenager in Hawaii prior to 1977.

"I doubt this is President Obama's originally issued Social Security number," she told WND. "Obama has a work history in Hawaii before he left the islands to attend college at Occidental College in California, so he must have originally been issued a Social Security number in Hawaii."

The published record available about Obama indicates his first job as a teenager in Hawaii was at a Baskin-Robbins in the Makiki neighborhood on Oahu. USA Today reported the ice-cream shop still was in operation one year after Obama's inauguration.

Politifact.com, a website typically supportive of Obama, claims he worked at the Baskin-Robbins in 1975 or 1976, prior to the issuance of the number in question.

"It is a crime to use more than one Social Security number, and Barack Obama had to have a previous Social Security number to have worked at Baskin-Robbins," she insisted. "Under current law, a person is not permitted to use more than one Social Security number in a lifetime."

Another anomaly in the law enforcement databases searched by Daniels and Sampson is that the date 1890 shows up in the field indicating the birth of the number holder, along with Obama's birth date of 08/04/1961. A third date listed is 04/08/1961, which appears to be a transposition of Obama's birth date in an international format, with the day before the month.

Daniels disclosed to WND the name of the database she searched and produced a computer screen copy of the page that listed 1890 as a date associated with the 042 Social Security number.

Daniels said she can't be sure if the 1890 figure has any significance. But she said it appears the number Obama is using was previously issued by the Social Security Administration.

After an extensive check of the proprietary databases she uses as a licensed private investigator, Daniels determined that the first occurrence of Obama's association with the number was in 1986 in Chicago.

Daniels assumes, but cannot prove, that Obama took on a previously issued Social Security number that had gone dormant due to the death of the original holder.

Daniels has been a licensed private investigator in Ohio since 1995. Sampson formed his private investigations firm, CSI Consulting and Investigations, in 2008. He previously worked as a deportations law enforcement officer with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The Daniels and Sampson affidavits were originally recorded by attorney Orly Taitz in an eligibility case against Obama last year.

BP Gulf Oil is actually leaking up to 480 million gallons daily !!

I did some research into oil pipe flow calculations and the answer is staggering !! BP wants us to beleive only 250,000 gallons a day are leaking, when in fact it is much much more then that. I followed the formula they use to calculate pipe flow and based on the figures, it is not good !!


www.pipeflowcalculations.com

UPDATE: Two individuals applied their own formulas to the data variables. Conclusion was the same. This is enough evidence to hold weight in court.

We are facing these figures as authentic oil flow.

Skeptical? Completely understood! Do the math yourself and you will see.



I will include all data and tools used to get to this conclusion.

Flow Calculator
[link to www.pipeflowcalculations.com]

Data
L = Length of pipe from seafloor to oil = 9,754 meters
D = Diameter of pipe = 914 mm to 215 mm
note - standard diameters for oil drilling, lowest value is used due to depth.
P1 = Pressure in oil reserve = 15,000 psi to 70,000 psi
P2 = Pressure at release point = 2,000 psi
P1-P2 = Pressure difference in transit = 13,000 to 68,000 psi
T = Temperature of oil in reserve = 633*K
note - 35,000 feet is averaged at 360*C
Q = Volumetric Flow Rate
G = Mass Flow Rate
rho = Density of oil = 924 kg/m3

The Calculators Results

70k PSI in Oil Reserve
Q = 352,259 m3/hr
G = 3.25487872E+008 kg/h = 325,487,872 kg/h = 116,301,122 gal/hr

15k PSI in Oil Reserve
Q = 64,210 m3/hr
G = 5.9330372E+007 kg/h = 59,330,372 kg/h = 21,199,527 gal/hr

Conclusion
21 to 116 million gallons per hour

This is mathematical fact and all variables are sound and factual. Please try to debunk this!

I hope I am wrong but I would like others to calculate themselves.

CALCULATION REPORT

1. volumetric flow rate (Q):
Q = 64210.363 m3/h

2. mass flow rate (G):
G = 5.9330372E+007 kg/h

3. lenght (L):
L = 9754 m

4. diameter (D):
D = 215 mm

5. density (rho):
rho = 924 kg/m3

6. tempearture (T):
T = 633 K

7. volumetric flow rate at the start (Q1):
Q1 = 145.78026 m3/h

8. volumetric flow rate at the end (Q2):
Q2 = 1093.3519 m3/h

9. pressure on the pipe start (p1):
p1 = 15000 psi

10. pressure on the pipe end (p2):
p2 = 2000.0 psi

11. pressure drop (p1-p2):
p1-p2 = 13000 psi

12. velocity at the start (V1):
V1 = 1.1153976 m/s

13. velocity at the end (V2):
V2 = 8.365481 m/s

It is now and has been pumping 1 mil gallons per day. The 200k gallon estimate is a very low ball number. If the well head fails it will pump 2.5 mil gallons per day.

There have been several links posted to articles by industry experts that say based on the satellite photos the 200k gallon estimate is way, way too low.

To put this in perspective, he Exxon Valdez spill in Prince William Sound of Alaska was 11mil. gallons of crude.

NASA Images of the Gulf Oil Slick

NASA is keeping a very close eye on the Gulf BP Oil spill. Here are some very high res photo images they have taken from satellites and the International Space Station.

NASA's Terra satellite flew over the Deepwater Horizon rig's oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico on Saturday, May 1 and captured a natural-color image of the slick from space. The oil slick resulted from an accident at the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument on NASA’s Terra satellite captured a natural-color image. The oil slick appeared as a tangle of dull gray on the ocean surface, made visible to the satellite sensor by the sun’s reflection on the ocean surface. On May 1, most of the oil slick was southeast of the Mississippi Delta.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is the lead agency on oil spills and uses airplane fly-over's to assess oil spill extent. NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites are also helping NOAA with satellite images of the area.

On Sunday, May 2, NOAA restricted fishing in federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico from the mouth of the Mississippi to Pensacola Bay for at least ten days. More details about the closure can be found at: http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov.
In addition to the federal closure, Louisiana closed vulnerable fisheries in state waters -- within three miles of the coast. NOAA noted that anyone wanting to report oil on land, or for general Community and Volunteer Information, please call 1-866-448-5816. To report oiled or injured wildlife, please call 1-800-557-1401.





The Deepwater Horizon oil spill (appearing as a dull gray color) is southeast of the Mississippi Delta in this May 1, 2010, image from NASA's MODIS instrument. Credit: NASA/Goddard/MODIS Rapid Response Team




Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Soichi Noguchi, Expedition 23 flight engineer, photographed the tail end of the Mississippi Delta showing the oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico on May 4, 2010. Part of the river delta and nearby Louisiana coast appear dark in the sunglint. This phenomenon is caused by sunlight reflecting off the water surface, in a mirror-like manner, directly back towards the astronaut observer onboard the International Space Station (ISS). The sunglint improves the identification of the oil spill which is creating a different water texture (and therefore a contrast) between the smooth and rougher water of the reflective ocean surface. Other features which cause a change in surface roughness that can be seen in sunglint are wind gusts, naturally occurring oils that will be gathered by and take the form of water currents or wave patterns, and less windy areas behind islands. Credit: NASA




On April 29, the MODIS image on the Terra satellite captured a wide-view natural-color image of the oil slick (outlined in white) just off the Louisiana coast. The oil slick appears as dull gray interlocking comma shapes, one opaque and the other nearly transparent. Sunglint -- the mirror-like reflection of the sun off the water -- enhances the oil slick’s visibility. The northwestern tip of the oil slick almost touches the Mississippi Delta. Credit: NASA/Earth Observatory/Jesse Allen, using data provided courtesy of the University of Wisconsin’s Space Science and Engineering Center MODIS Direct Broadcast system.




NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites are helping the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) keep tabs on the extent of the recent Gulf oil spill with satellite images from time to time. NOAA is the lead agency on oil spills and uses airplane fly-overs to assess oil spill extent.

A semisubmersible drilling platform called the Deepwater Horizon located about 50 miles southeast of the Mississippi Delta experienced a fire and explosion at approximately 11 p.m. CDT on April 20. Subsequently, oil began spilling out into the Gulf of Mexico and efforts to contain the spill continue today. NASA's Terra and Aqua satellite imagery has captured the spill in between cloudy days.

NOAA used data from the Moderate Imaging Spectroradiometer or MODIS instrument from the Terra satellite on April 26, 27 and 29 to capture the extent of the oil spill, which measured 600-square-miles. The MODIS instrument flies aboard both the Terra and Aqua satellites.

This satellite image from NASA's Terra satellite on April 27 at 12:05 CDT shows the outline and extent of the oil slick from the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform. The red dot represents the platform. The coasts of Mississippi and Alabama appear at the top of the image. Credit: NOAA/NASA
› Larger image In the satellite image from April 27 at 12:05 p.m. CDT the MODIS image showed that the oil slick was continuing to emanate from the spill location. Individual slicks lay just north of 29 degrees and zero minutes north, where they have been noted in the days before. Oil had spread further east and the edge of the slick passed 87 degrees and 30 minutes west compared to the MODIS image taken on April 26. The April 26 satellite image came from NASA's Aqua satellite.

On April 29, the MODIS image on the Terra satellite captured a natural-color image of the oil slick just off the Louisiana coast. The oil slick appeared as dull gray interlocking comma shapes, one opaque and the other nearly transparent. The northwestern tip of the oil slick almost touches the Mississippi Delta.

Deepwater Horizon had more than120 crew aboard and contained an estimated to 17,000 barrels of oil (700,000 gallons) of number two fuel oil or marine diesel fuel.

Today, April 30, NOAA declared the Deepwater Horizon incident "a Spill of National Significance (SONS)." A SONS is defined as, "a spill that, due to its severity, size, location, actual or potential impact on the public health and welfare or the environment, or the necessary response effort, is so complex that it requires extraordinary coordination of federal, state, local, and responsible party resources to contain and clean up the discharge" and allows greater federal involvement. NOAA's estimated release rate of oil spilling into the Gulf is estimated at 5,000 barrels (210,000 gallons) per day based on surface observations and reports of a newly discovered leak in the damaged piping on the sea floor.

NOAA reported on April 29 that dispersants are still being aggressively applied to the oil spill and over 100,000 gallons have been applied. NOAA's test burn late yesterday was successful and approximately 100 barrels of oil were burned in about 45 minutes. NOAA is flying planes over the area and using NASA satellite imagery from the Terra and Aqua satellites to monitor the spill.