bp also faces fines for the spill, fines that will be determined by how much oil has actually been released over these past three months. experts should be able to get a more accurate measure of that with the new containment cap now in place. our congressional correspondent is taking a closer look at this part of the story. what are you finding out? >> reporter: big call right now, wolf, from democrats who are pushing for an exact number of how much oil has been spilling into the gulf over the 87 days that the oil was flowing so far. right now it's just an estimate, a range of 35,000 to 60,000 barrels per day and under federal law there is a standard fine of $1100 per barrel of oil spilled, civil damages, that could go up to $4300 per barrel if it's proven that bp or other companies were grossly negligent here. so let's break this down. is the flow rate estimate, if it's off or short by 5,000 barrels per day we are talking these high end finals, the u.s. could miss out collecting almost