Gulf Oil Spill: Flow Rate Still Undetermined, BP Slow with Booms

Speaking at a press conference in Louisiana, the Coast Guard's Mary Landry, on-scene coordinator for the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, gives her first indication to date that BP's cleanup efforts have not met expectations. Citing boom and skimming material in place but not deployed, she speaks of the Coast Guard's "disappointment."

The daily press conferences with BP, NOAA, the Minerals Mining Service and the Coast Guard are odd events. Bad as the news continues to be, and far off as stopping the flow of oil likely remains (most say mid-August), spokesmen for all concrened spin the positive.

The veneer is applied with equivocating phrases: the Coast Guard is "disappointed" in "people" unwilling to put in place booms and skimming materials staged on the shoreline. The fine weather for in situ burning , skimming, and undersea dispersement are continually praised as "cooperative".

But little gets said of how bad the perfusion of crude is becoming in Louisiana wetlands and marshes as the spill drifts ashore. Nor does anyone talk about the underwater plumes of oil invisible to overflying officials and corporate executives.