Update at 7:31 p.m. ET: NPR says it has obtained "sophisticated scientific analysis of seafloor video" showing that the oil gushing from the ruptured pipes is "closer to 70,000 barrels a day," more than 10 times the Coast Guard's earlier estimate of 5,000 barrels. That works out to 2,940,000 gallons of oil a day. (A barrel contains 42 gallons.)
If confirmed by the Coast Guard it would mean the spill long ago eclipsed the 11 million gallons the Exxon Valdez tanker spilled in Prince William Sound in Alaska in 1989.
Today is the 24th day since the blowout, so that would work out to more than 70 billion gallons of crude oil that have poured into the Gulf — 70,560,000 to be exact.
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