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Gulf oil spill: ‘Second’ spill explained

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An oil company says photos showing a sheen of oil about 70 miles southwest of the big BP spill are evidence of government-approved work long under way, not a new spill. New Orleans-based Taylor Energy Co. said Tuesday that its platform collapsed during Hurricane Ivan in 2004.

Taylor says that wells on the sea bottom are buried under 100 feet of mud and sediment, and that sheening has been light.

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An aerial photographer shot and put on the Internet images of a sheen trailing from the work site over the weekend.

News of the leak was spread by the watchdog group SkyTruth, which first challenged the spill rate from the Deepwater Horizon.

Neither the Coast Guard nor the Minerals Management Service have responded to requests for comment.

The Gulf is dotted with hundreds of platforms and releases of oil are not uncommon.

-- Associated Press

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