A Much Bigger Leak

The Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster is leaking five times as much oil into the Gulf of Mexico than originally thought, and ecological disaster that could turn into an economic one.

Officials revised their estimate of the amount of oil being leaked to 5,000 gallons per day from 1,000 gallons on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, they are trying to contain the spill and keep it from heading into the rich estuarine fisheries of Louisiana and the rest of the Gulf Coast, or the beaches of the coast as summer tourism season approaches.

he spill, if it moves closer to shore, could wreak havoc on the giant Louisiana fishing industry, which is second only to Alaska’s in size.

According to Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, the state’s fishing industry:

• Is worth $265 billion at dockside
• Has a retail value of $1.7 trillion
• A total economic impact of $2.3 trillion

Louisiana’s fishing industry produces:

• 32.5 percent of U.S. oyster landings
• 37.7 percent of blue crab landings
• 38 percent of shrimp landings
• 76.5 percent of Menhaden landings

All of that is to say nothing of the multi-billion dollar tourist industry along the Gulf Coast that could be hit by the oil spill effects.

Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reports that if the well had a safeguard that is common in both Norwegian and Brazilian deepwater wells, the disaster could have been at least mitigated. Called an acoustic switch, the device could have been used to shut off the flow of oil after the explosion and disaster aboard the rig, though that is unclear.