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Oil Spill Timeline Map

&lt;a   href="http://www.esri.com/services/disaster-response/gulf-oil-spill-2010/timeline-map.html"&gt;Gulf  of Mexico Oil Spill Timeline Map&lt;/a&gt;

BP Gulf Oil Spill Controlled Burns

Each day, another way to define worst-case for oil spill

Even the most sober analysts are quick to say that this is such an unpredictable well that almost anything is possible. Bruce Bullock, director of the Maguire Energy Institute at Southern Methodist University, said additional leaks are a possible source of deep-sea plumes of oil detected by research vessels. But this part of the gulf is pocked with natural seeps, he noted. Conceivably the drilling of the well, and/or the subsequent blowout, could have affected the seeps, he said.

"Once you started disturbing the underground geology, you may have made one of those seeps even worse," he said.

Expanding deepwater drilling was BP's top priority

''This is a geological monster,'' the former president told CNN. ''That is one heck of an oil well. There's more oil down there than I ever dreamed.

''The navy could probably stop it, but there are all kinds of consequences that would have to be considered,'' Mr Clinton said. ''You could stop that well, but what else might you do that might upset the ecostructure of the Gulf?''

The navy would not need to use a nuclear weapon, Mr Clinton said, explaining that the navy could simply ''blow up the well and cover the leak with piles and piles and piles of rock and debris''.