Gulf Disaster Hits Another Milestone

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The BP oil disaster in the Gulf may have passed a milestone yesterday, and it wasn’t a good one. The oil spill likely became the largest ever in the Gulf of Mexico, eclipsing the previous Ixtoc I spill off Mexico’s coast.

The Ixtoc disaster spanned 9 months, from June 3, 1979 to March 23, dumping 140 million gallons into the Gulf.

The highest estimate from the government flow rate team for the current BP spill is that 2.5 million gallons are spewing into the Gulf every day, which would put the total as high as 159 million gallons at this point. Even the lower-end government estimates would put the spill at 83 million gallons so far.

The disaster might now be the biggest in the Gulf, but it still doesn’t qualify as the worst in world history. That was in Kuwait in 1991, when up to 520 million gallons were dumped when Iraqi forces opened the valves on an oil terminal to impede the advance of US troops.

The Gulf disaster still has plenty of time to set even more disgraceful records. It’s expected to keep flowing for at least six more weeks until the relief wells are finished (most likely in mid-August). Incident commander Thad Allen, who officially retired from the US Coast Guard Admiral this week, said the government has directed BP to figure out how to capture up to 90 percent of the gusher by mid-July. But he was hesitant to give any more optimistic estimates of an actual date when they can stop the spill.

“I’m reluctant to tell you it will happen before the middle of August,” Allen told reporters yesterday. “I would rather under promise and over deliver with you folks.”

In any case, the tragedy is far from over.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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