"BP didn't file a plan to specifically handle a major oil spill from an uncontrolled blowout at its Deepwater Horizon project because the federal agency that regulates offshore rigs changed its rules two years ago to exempt certain projects in the central Gulf region"
NPR's Richard Harris has learned that much more oil, 70,000 barrels a day or more than ten times the official estimate, is gushing into the Gulf of Mexico from the Deepwater Horizon pipe, based on scientific analysis of the video released Wednesday.
The experimental containment dome was successfully positioned over the leaking riser pipe last night, but then had to be removed after a large volume of ice-like methane hydrate crystals accumulated inside of the structure. These crystal hydrates blocked the flow of oil and threatened to lift the dome off the sea floor.