The environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico continues, with an estimated 6 million gallons of oil leaked from an exploded oil rig now making its way into the Louisiana wetlands. BP claims that they are now capturing 5,000 barrels a day, the entirety of the previous official estimate. But the now-available live feed (thanks Sen. Boxer (D-CA)!) shows that the flow of oil seems just as severe as previously released still photos of the leak:
Watch CBS News Videos Online
It also appears that, as previously feared may happen, oil has entered an undersea current that may pull the oil around Florida and up the Atlantic coast:
Officials in Florida sought to reassure tourists that the state's beaches are clean and safe as government scientists said a small portion of the slick had entered the so-called loop current, a stream of fast-moving water that circulates around the Gulf before bending around Florida and up the Atlantic coast.
[...]
Tracking the unpredictable spill and the complex loop current is a challenge for scientists, said Charlie Henry, a NOAA environmental scientist.
The loop moves based on shifting winds and other environmental factors, so even though oil is leaking continuously it may be in the current one day, and out the next. The slick itself has defied scientists' efforts to track it and predict its path. Instead, it has repeatedly advanced and retreated, an ominous, shape-shifting mass in the Gulf, with vast underwater lobes extending outward.
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