A containment device fitted last week is now capturing 15,800 barrels a day, but the latest data suggests at least 4,200 barrels and possibly up to 25,000 barrels—more than a million gallons—are still spewing into the sea each day. At least 40 million gallons of crude have already poured into the Gulf, and perhaps double that. That is roughly four times as much as the Exxon Valdez spill off the Alaskan coast in 1989.

This is a perfect example of why not “owning” up to the flow rate from day one was so stupid on the behalf of BP. Equally as much that the White House allowed it to happen. Of course BP wanted to low-ball the numbers, cause each barrel means up to a $4,300 fine. But this should be seen as a success, one of the few the White House can claim. But since now the oil from the well is going onto a ship, and it is stupid simple to measure, there is no longer anyway BP can hide the full extent of the problem. What should be a success and a good news story for Obama, is actually an epic fail. Ugh!

President Barack Obama unveiled plans Tuesday for a fourth visit to the Gulf of Mexico next week, with his three-state tour reflecting the widening footprint of the US oil disaster zone. Obama will visit Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, all of which have coastlines, fishing industries and tourist beaches threatened by the massive oil slick spawned by the April 20 explosion on a BP-operated rig.

Ponder that for a few seconds. Put aside that the spill gusher even happened. Who is to blame. All of that. In their own documents, submitted to our government, they said a spill of the current flow rate was basically no problem.

This bold assertion (insert lie) came in an ’09 Initial Exploration Plan (PDF) for the well that ultimately blew out, which was required to be filed with the Minerals Management Service.  BP says in the document that it “has the capability to respond, to the maximum extent practicable, to a worst-case discharge, or a substantial threat of such a discharge, resulting from the activities proposed in our Exploration Plan.”

BP engineers failed again to plug the gushing oil well on Saturday, a technician working on the project said, representing yet another setback in a series of unsuccessful procedures the company has tried a mile under the sea to stem the flow spreading into the Gulf of Mexico.

BP made a third attempt at what is termed the “junk shot” Friday night, a procedure that involves pumping odds and ends like plastic cubes, knotted rope, and golf balls into the blowout preventer, the five-story safety device atop the well. The maneuver is complementary to the heavily scrutinized effort known as a “top kill,”which began four days ago and involves pumping heavy mud into the well to counteract the push of the escaping oil. If the well is sealed, the company plans to then fill it with cement.

The technician working on the project said Saturday pumping has again been halted and a review of the data so far is under way. “Right now, I would not be optimistic,” the technician, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak publicly about the effort. But he added, that if another attempt at the junk shot were to succeed, “that would turn things around.”

BP is currently fighting the EPA’s demands to change its use of the toxic dispersant Corexit.  Corexit has been banned in the UK since 2000, yet BP has used more than 700,000 gallons already in the Gulf of Mexico. The use of dispersants have created an invisible toxic cloud of unknown size below the surface, as the federal government lets BP block attempts to monitor the gusher, study the undersea plumes, or learn about the dispersants being used.

On Monday, Good Morning America correspondent Sam Champion and Philippe Cousteau Jr., the chief ocean correspondent for Planet Green and grandson of Jacques Cousteau, explored the toxic plumes of dispersed oil floating beneath the waves in the Gulf of Mexico:

This, critics say, is what BP does not want you to see: oil and chemical dispersants swirling together into a toxic soup, forming large plumes under the surface of the water as deep as twenty-five feet, perhaps deeper.

The small droplets of dispersed oil are “capable of passing right into the flesh of fish and birds.” “It’s absolutely disgusting,” Cousteau described. “I think this has got to be one of the most horrible things I’ve ever seen underwater.”

• The EPA has ordered BP to begin using less-toxic dispersants within the next 72 hours.
• NYT reports scientists say the Federal government is not doing enough to study the extent of damage caused so far by BP’s spill. Says one: “It seems baffling that we don’t know how much oil is being spilled [....] that we don’t know where the oil is in the water  column.”
• The NYT report reflects many of the concerns raised Tuesday by Dan Froomkin at the Washington Post.
• The more we learn, the greater the magnitude of the disaster.
• Oil has hit the Louisiana wetlands, covering 35 miles of coast—and growing. Fishing has now been banned in nearly one-fifth of the Gulf of Mexico.
• The oil hasn’t reached Florida’s beaches— but a portion of the slick has now entered the loop current, putting Florida’s coastal communities at risk.
• The livestream of BP’s oil leak, which they promised yesterday to make available at globalwarming.house.gov, still is not publicly available.
• Pictures, pictures, and more pictures: Times-Picayune (New Orleans); Huffington Post.
• BP will attempt to seal the well on Sunday or Monday using the “top kill” procedure.
• A key White House  ally is running an ad urging the passage of energy reform, accusing Republicans of doing big oil’s bidding.