Gulf oil spill: New BP spill video released

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Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) released new video of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico:

The first video is from May 8, from the main riser pipe leak, before any intervention. The second video is from two days later, prior to insertion of a tube to siphon away the oil:

A third video is from May 15:

A fourth video from May 17 shows the riser pipe with the insertion:

[Update 1:50 p.m.: BP has agreed to a request from the Senate Environment and Public Works committee to release all video records of the spill.]

[Update: 3:04 p.m.: Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) said the new videos needed to be examined by experts to determine whether BP’s estimate of 5,000 barrels (210,000 gallons) per day was accurate.

‘This new leak video deserves a new look by independent scientists,’ said Markey, whose Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Energy and Environment will hold hearings on the oil spill on Wednesday. ‘BP brags about collecting more than a 1,000 barrels of oil a day from their new siphon technique, but they still don’t know how many thousands of barrels they are missing.’

Markey plans to call Steve Wereley from Purdue University, who says his technique, called particle image velocimetry, showed that the flow ranged between 56,000 barrels a day and 84,000 barrels a day before engineers began siphoning away some of the oil this week.]
-- Geoff Mohan