Gulf leak worse than thought, U.S. says

Federal government lawyers say a 14-year-old leak is releasing much more oil each day into the Gulf of Mexico than officials previously claimed, and it may be getting worse.

A court filing in a case involving Taylor Energy Co. estimates that from 10,000 to 30,000 gallons daily is leaking from multiple wells around a drilling platform toppled by 2004’s Hurricane Ivan.

That estimate is far above the 16,000 gallons of oil that the U.S. Coast Guard estimated in 2015 had been spotted in slicks over seven months.

Friday’s filing by the government cites a report it commissioned from a scientist who has studied satellite images of persistent oil slicks and sampled floating oil at the site about 10 miles offshore. That report also suggests that while the amount of leaking oil decreased after some wells were plugged in 2011, the leak may be getting bigger again.

New Orleans-based Taylor said only 2 to 3 gallons was leaking daily out of mud on the seafloor.

“The government’s recent filing is completely contrary to the comprehensive, sound science acquired by world-renowned experts, including those regularly relied upon by the government,” spokesman Todd Ragusa wrote in an email to The Associated Press.

The wellheads are more than 400 feet underwater and buried under 60 to 100 feet of mud.

AP/Standard-Examiner/BENJAMIN ZACK Students are evacuated from Weber High School in Pleasant View, Utah, after several students became ill and an unknown odor was reported Monday.