Official oil flow estimates revised up, MMS director fired

by Jed Lewison

Thu May 27, 2010 at 08:15:39 AM PDT

Government scientists now say the flow of oil from BP's leaking well has been at least two and a half times as high as earlier official estimates from the Coast Guard and could be as many as five times as high. The new numbers from the U.S. Geological Survey and represent a fairly obvious concession to reality, but it's worth keeping in mind that independent scientists have said the flow of oil is actually twenty times as high as the Coast Guard's official estimates. Still, it's progress to have the government officially recognize that this is the largest oil spill in U.S. history.

In other news, AP reports that the head of the Minerals Management Service has been fired. MMS is the agency that was responsible for regulating BP's offshore drilling activities. (Update, 8:17AM: MSNBC just reported that Secretary Salazar says Birnbaum resigned, though it's not clear if she resigned under pressure or not. Update 2, 8:27AM: Birnbaum's career background was in government service and environmental advocacy. She also took this job after BP's permits had been granted. I suspect that if she was forced out, it wasn't because she was culpable, but rather that she might not have been the right person to reorganize MMS.)

President Obama will address issues related to the oil spill at 9:45AM easternPacific time, and will take questions from the media. He's expected to announce an extension to the moratorium on deepwater offshore drilling as well as other measures to reduce the risk posed by oil drilling.