Based on “sophisticated scientific analysis of seafloor video made available Wednesday,” Steve Wereley, an associate professor at Purdue University, told NPR the actual spill rate of the BP oil disaster is about 3 million gallons a day — 15 times the official guess of BP and the federal government. Another scientific expert, Eugene Chiang, a professor of astrophysics at the University of California, Berkeley, calculated the rate of flow to be between 840,000 and four million gallons a day. These estimates mean that the Deepwater Horizon wreckage could have spilled about five times as much oil as the 12-million-gallon Exxon Valdez disaster, with relief only guaranteed by BP in three more months. Watch video of oil flooding out of one of the two remaining leaks, which BP had suppressed for weeks:

On Tuesday, BP America president Lamar McKay testified under oath before the Senate that “you can’t measure what’s coming out at the seabed.”

As the ongoing oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico continues to ravage the southeastern coast of the United States, Congress is working on federal reforms that would decrease the likelihood of future disasters and force oil companies to take more responsibility for the financial cost of such catastrophes.

One senator who claims to be in support of such reforms is Lisa Murkowski (R-AK). Following the spill, she introduced legislation that would increase the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, a special fund paid for by a pennies-per-barrel fee that oil companies pay into to cleanup potential spills, up to $10 billion — an increase from the $1.6 billion currently in it. In a statement accompanying the introduction of her legislation, Murkowski claimed the amendment is “one of several steps” Congress should take to make sure we’re “prepared to respond adequately in the unlikely event of future spills”:

In 2005, Sen. Murkowski proposed increasing the industry per-barrel fee that supports the liability fund by 60 percent. Her new amendment make sure the fund would not be depleted by a single catastrophic spill.

“While this won’t resolve all of the potential issues arising from the Deepwater Horizon accident, it’s one of several steps the Senate should take to see that we’re prepared to respond adequately in the unlikely event of future spills,” Sen. Murkowski said.

This afternoon, the Senate debated legislation introduced by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) that would’ve increased the maximum liability oil companies could have for oil spills from $75 million to $10 billion. Despite her high-minded rhetoric about the steps Congress needs to take to respond to future spills, Murkowski objected to Menendez’s requested voice vote, stopping his legislation from going forward:

Alaska’s senior senator blocked legislation Thursday that would have dramatically increased liability caps on oil companies, in the wake of one of the industry’s biggest disasters.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) objected to a voice vote request by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) on the bill, which would have spiked the maximum liability for oil companies after an oil spill from $75 million to $10 billion. The legislation has significant support from Democrats, and the White House has indicated it backs an increase in liability caps.

Following the failure of his bill to come up for a vote, Menendez responded, “It’s straightforward, it’s common sense. Either you want to fully protect the small businesses, individuals and communities devastated by a man-made disaster — this is not a natural disaster; this is a man-made disaster — or you want to protect multibillion-dollar oil companies from being held fully accountable. Apparently there are some in the Senate who prefer to protect the oil companies.”

As BP attempts to once again plug the massive oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, balls of tar have begun washing up on the “prized white sands” of the Louisiana and Alabama coasts, alongside dead dolphins, sea turtles and 600 dead catfish. The Coast Guard released these photos yesterday of tar on Raccoon Island in Louisiana, “a protected bird breeding sanctuary with a variety of breeds“:

As ThinkProgress has noted, a number former pro-drilling advocates from affected states have reconsidered their support in the wake of the disaster. In Florida, which could face major economic fallout from the spill, Gov. Charlie Crist (I) said the disaster convinced him that offshore drilling “certainly isn’t safe enough,” and today called for a constitutional amendment to ban drilling off his state’s coast. A majority of voters in Florida now oppose drilling, in “stark contrast” to a poll from last year which showed majority support.

A new PPP poll shows that even in North Carolina, which is not likely to be directly affected by the spill, support for drilling has fallen off precipitously:

In April 61% of voters said they supported it with only 26% opposed. Now in the wake of the spill in the Gulf support has declined to 47% with 38% of voters against it. This is the first time PPP has ever found less than majority support for drilling in the state.

It’s unusual to see that big a change in how North Carolinians feels about a particular issue in such a short period of time, but it’s clear the spill has given many voters in the state second thoughts. 50% said it made them less supportive of allowing drilling off the state’s coast, compared to 28% who said it made no difference, and 22% who said the spill actually made them more supportive of drilling here.

PPP notes that the tumble in support for drilling has “come across party lines,” with a 17 point drop among independents, a 16 point drop among Democrats, and an 11 point drop among Republicans. A recent Rasmussen poll found that support for oil drilling nationally has “fallen dramatically” since the spill.