Oil Spill Estimate Surges (Again)

Another talking point for the president tonight: Government scientists have once again raised the estimate of how much oil is gushing into the Gulf of Mexico. The well is spewing between 1.47 million and 2.52 million gallons a day, or somewhere between 35,000 and 60,000 barrels. Only last week, the top estimate—from video made before the riser pipe was cut—had been 40,000 barrels a day, notes the Washington Post.

"This estimate brings together several scientific methodologies and the latest information from the sea floor," said energy chief Steven Chu. The higher estimate doesn't necessarily mean that the riser pipe strategy has increased the flow (though BP warned it might), only that it's now easier for scientists to see how much is leaking from that single point.
(More Gulf oil spill stories.)