as of this past week, the latest government estimate is that as much as 60,000 barrels of oil are spewing into the gulf each day. let s talk about this with stephen worley. he was a member of the government s flow rate technical group that came up with this 35,000 to 60,000 barrel a day estimate. are you satisfied with that estimate or could it be even more? well, first of all, i should say that i m very satisfied with that measurement. i think it s a result of a scientific process and i got absolutely no sense that that politics was involved in it. i think we came to a well reasoned and scientific conclusion. because some people went in thinking it could be 100,000 barrels a day. you were among those, weren t you? well, what i said initially was 70,000 barrels a day. then i looked at this pink point and added another 25,000. but the important thing to remember about that and what the
this oil spill is the worst environmental disaster america has ever faced. and unlike an earthquake damage matter of minutes or days. this is more like an epidemic, one we ll be fighting for months and even years. president obama ramping up his response to the oil disaster this week with his fourth visit to the gulf coast. this time he stayed overnight and included mississippi, alabama, and florida. in his trip which culminated with his first ever oval office address to the nation. then on wednesday, he summoned top bp executives to the white house including the company s previously unseen chairman. after four hours of meeting, bp agreed to fund a massive compensation fund with an initial payment of $20 billion. tony hayward was on capitol hill thursday testifying for the first time since the april 20th spill. the ceo got it from both sides as lawmakers gave him quite a grilling. hayward s answers sparked more frustration. and there was an extraordinary side show. as a re