As of today, no one really knows how much oil has leaked into the Gulf of Mexico threatening the entire Gulf Coast Region, and possibly Florida  and the East Coast.

NOAA is using an estimate of 210,000 gallons of oil per day (5,000 barrels), but in a closed door meeting with members of Congress, BP administrators said that the amount could be as high as 60,000 barrels per day, ten times NOAA’s estimate.

PBS created this widget that we can use to estimate the spillage of oil into the Gulf.  You can move the slider to adjust the rate of oil spillage per day to see the devastating impact of this oil disaster.

Today, BP lowered a huge dome over the gushing oil well, but early reports indicated that they were experiencing a problem with the development of “ice-like crystals” that form when gas combines with water under the ocean. According to news reports, efforts are underway to resolve this problem. Unfortunately, the lowering of the dome over a leaking oil well has never been attempted at this depth. It will be a few days before we know the fate of this procedure. In the meantime, we continue to see the oil continue to leak.