Scientists Challenge BP Containment Claims

Some scientists are taking issue with BP’s statement that a containment cap placed over a gushing well could be capturing “the vast majority” of oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico.

They suggest it’s misleading, if not irresponsible, to make such a statement when the company has acknowledged it doesn’t know how much oil is flowing from the busted well, or how much the spill rate has increased since engineers cut a riser pipe so it could properly fit the containment cap.

“I don’t see that as being a credible claim,” said Steve Wereley, associate professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue University and a member of the Flow Rate Technical Group, a national panel of scientists and engineers tasked with determining the spill size.
Judging by live undersea videos, “it looks like a freely flowing pipe,” Leifer said. “From what it looks like right now it suggests to me they’re capturing a negligible fraction.”

It’s unclear how much oil is still escaping because scientists don’t have access to enough data and the video feeds show a “disorganized cloud” of oil shooting out of open vents in the containment cap and between the riser and the cap, Wereley said.

“It’s very difficult to judge flow rates from these multiple sources,” he said. “My position is that the claims (of capturing the ‘vast majority’ of oil) cannot be made because the flow is too complicated.”

NBC LA