Oil Spill is a Major Catastrophe - [Satellite image + solutions]

SLATE:...this is a spill of unprecedented proportions in U.S. waters.

"It would just take a few days, at most a week, for it to exceed the Exxon Valdez's record," Chiang said.

SHOOT: Big shit is happening and BP are doing just one thing: deny deny deny.

clipped from twitpic.com clipped from www.npr.org Listen to the Story [4 min 35 sec] Add to Playlist Download Transcript Gulf Spill May Far Exceed Official Estimates The amount of oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico may be at least 10 times the size of official estimates, according to an exclusive analysis conducted for NPR. At NPR's request, experts examined video that BP released Wednesday. Their findings suggest the BP spill is already far larger than the 1989 Exxon Valdez accident in Alaska, which spilled at least 250,000 barrels of oil. "I would peg it at around 20,000 to 100,000 barrels per day," he said. Chiang called the current estimate of 5,000 barrels a day "almost certainly incorrect." "It would just take a few days, at most a week, for it to exceed the Exxon Valdez's record," Chiang said. BP disputed these figures. This new, much larger number suggests that capturing — and cleaning up — this oil may be a much bigger challenge than anyone has let on.