Bill Nelson: “I am sad to report to you that as of this moment, one of the remote operating vehicles has bumped into that top hat…”

“I am sad to report to you that as of this moment, one of the remote operating vehicles has bumped into that top hat process that was funneling the oil off of the big structure, the blowout preventer from the pipe, the riser pipe, with the result that all of that oil now is not being siphoned off. The estimates now are upwards and probably pretty close to 60,000 barrels a day of oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico. Remember, when it started off, oh, it was only 1,000 barrels a day. Then it was only 5,000 barrels a day. Then it was maybe 12,000 barrels a day but max 20,000 barrels a day. Senator Boxer and I were able to get the streaming video out so the scientists could look and they could make their estimates, their calculations. Anyway, it has gone on and on. It is now up to 60,000 barrels of oil a day. The oil industry had said they had started siphoning off--first it was 10,000, then it was 15,000. They were trying to get it up to 25,000. Now, since this accident, that is being shut down--let's hope just very temporarily, but we are now back to the point that most of the oil is gushing back into the gulf.”