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[RedKing]

According to NPR, the well is actually leaking closer to 50,000 gallons per day instead of the previously estimated 5000 gallons per day. Which is 1 Exxon Valdeez every 4 days (its now been about 2 weeks). Yeah, the east coast is pretty much boned at this point.

Correction: The Gulf Coast is boned. If this shit gets so big (or hits the Gulf Stream current) so that it's washing up here in North Carolina, *then* the East Coast is boned. And at that point, I think we all (and by all, I mean all ~5.5 billion inhabitants of Planet Earth) are legally empowered to roshambo BP's executive board. For eternity.

[Nonsapient]

The gulf has been pretty well boned from nitrogen runoff via the Mississippi river for quite some time. 


This oil spill is like shooting someone that has Ebola.


I'm rather  glad this has happened, to be honest.  If the backlash gets strong enough,  we might finally see some real governmental incentive in renewable energy.

[Duke 2.0]

 I would be more interested in more government backlash about dumping and runoff, but only because the fact that the area was boned already.

[Footkerchief]

Correction: The Gulf Coast is boned. If this shit gets so big (or hits the Gulf Stream current) so that it's washing up here in North Carolina, *then* the East Coast is boned. And at that point, I think we all (and by all, I mean all ~5.5 billion inhabitants of Planet Earth) are legally empowered to roshambo BP's executive board. For eternity.

Motherfuck.  I better do my Outer Banks camping trip before it gets here.

[alway]

Heh, I got my figures wrong. It is 50,000 BARRELS per day, not 50,000 gallons. Which is about 2 million gallons a day. In volume, that's 7500 m^3 a day. Yippee.

I get the feeling this is going to go up around the east coast purely through sheer force of volume. That or a hurricane comes and washes it all inland, covering a large region of land in a sticky mess. The well probably won't be capped for at least a month, and there is no way they will be able to clean it up faster than it is coming out.

[PTTG??]

So, this is the second largest spill in history. The Largest spill in history, at least at the moment, remains the entirely intentional Gulf War oil spill.
 
Well, in order for this thing to mess up my coast, It has to make it's way through the panama canal. Which it may end up doing pretty soon, at this rate.
 
I guess that somewhere, there's an executive looking at some $10,000 art piece in his office and trying to decide if it was or wasn't worth the cost of adding that valve or whatever. He shrugs his shoulders; Meh, I live in London. No oil up there, he decides.
 
Now, according to the Republicans, the repartations we are so cruely inflicting on BP will force them to move operations to other countries, loosing american jobs. Or so I assume from their general stance on industrial regulation.

[LeoLeonardoIII]

Just to bring up some more numbers,

The total volume of Earth's oceans is 343,200,000,000,000 million gallons.

2 million gallons a day for the spill.

There is some more math to do but I'm lazy and it's time for the Foodening.

[Duke 2.0]

 It doesn't need to fill all those gallons, most of which are below 100 feet depth. It just needs to cover the surface to cause problems. Get me ocean surface area dude.

[alway]

7500 m^3 per day is about .75cm of depth over a 1 square km area. However, in addition to that being just per day, for it to be an oil slick it really only takes a tiny fraction of that.

[Blacken]

Well, in order for this thing to mess up my coast, It has to make it's way through the panama canal. Which it may end up doing pretty soon, at this rate.

The Panama Canal can be closed. Not optimal, but it won't get through.

[IronyOwl]

It doesn't need to fill all those gallons, most of which are below 100 feet depth. It just needs to cover the surface to cause problems. Get me ocean surface area dude.

Uh... not sure about my math, but I believe 7500 cubic meters works out to 3750 square kilometers at a thickness of 1 mm. Not sure how thick an oil slick is normally or how much thickness it needs to cause problems, but if it happens to be one millimeter there we go.

Liquid surface area is supposedly 361 million km².

[Duke 2.0]

 Hurah! Thanks dude.

 But yeah, there had better be cameras when they decide to light that thing up. And hopefully the Discovery Channel filming like three shows on the oil slick burning.

[Zai]

I'm actually slightly want to see a hurricane pass through there, just to see what happens.

I had this idea pop into my head the other day and was interested in watching what happened, but really, I'd kind of likely be in the path of the hurricane, so I don't really want that to happen. But I support shooting the oil-hurricane with a massive fireball or 10 and watching what happens.

[Greiger]

Good news, the oil greatly hinders development of hurricanes over it.

Bad news, it's gonna suck if an already developed hurricane comes by to spread all the oil around.

[IronyOwl]

Ooh, ooh! We could get Hollywood to pay for lighting it up, and they could film the glorious results. I'm sure they've made entire movies on worse excuses than extensive footage of a literal ocean of fire.