WILLIAMS:
Good evening.
BRIAN WILLIAMS, anchor:
Tonight, again we have the latest pictures from one mile down, 42 miles off the coast of
Louisiana
. There it is, what used to be the
Deepwater Horizon
and is now instead a deep water environmental nightmare. Nothing has stopped the billowing, belching oil. Just today, with the first hint of tar being found on some beaches in
Florida
, before we even knew where it was from, that put a kind of new fear element in this ongoing tragedy. Today the
federal government
vowed to do a better job regulating the industry, acknowledging this damage is done. But this damage keeps on coming. We begin our coverage again today with
NBC
's
Mark Potter
in
Venice
,
Louisiana
.
Mark
, good evening.
MARK POTTER reporting:
And good evening to you,
Brian
. After two
US senators
demanded it,
BP
released that new video showing dramatically and from different angles all that oil pouring into the gulf, and more of it is coming ashore. The video released today shows more clearly than ever before plumes of
oil and gas
pouring from the damaged
oil well
and pipe. This video shows the smaller of the two leaks where no attempts have even been made to seal the flow. Oil can be seen billowing from cracks at the top of the blowout preventer. Another video shows oil pouring continuously from the end of the pipe, the biggest leak.
Steve Wereley
of
Purdue University
says this latest video convinces him his previous estimate of 70,000 barrels a day leaking into the gulf was too low.
Mr. STEVE WERELEY:
I can't say how much in excess of that 70,000 barrels per day this leak is, but it's -- I would use the word considerable.
POTTER:
BP
says it's now collecting about 2,000 barrels of runaway oil per day. The rest still escaping into the
Gulf of Mexico
. Today,
Louisiana
Governor
Bobby Jindal
said that
heavy oil
is washing ashore.
Governor BOBBY JINDAL:
This is the first time we've seen this much
heavy oil
this far into our...
POTTER:
Today the
government
released this satellite photo showing the
oil spill
stretching to the southeast, approaching, but not yet entering, scientists say, the warm water loop current which could carry the oil toward
Florida
. In response, the federal fishing ban has been extended to match the spill and now covers more than 45,000
square miles
.
Ms. KENDRA ARNISON:
There are residents in our community getting sick.
POTTER:
In
Venice
,
Louisiana
, residents living closest to the spill are complaining of health problems seen in other oil disasters.
Ms. ARNISON:
He's coughing, gagging, wouldn't -- couldn't hardly sleep.
POTTER:
Kendra Arnison
's husband is a commercial fisherman. She wants the
federal government
to monitor the local environment and provide doctors.
Ms. ARNISON:
All of a sudden
we have community members
all over the place
that's getting sick. It's not coincidence. There's no way that this is coincidence.
POTTER:
But
Arnison
and others say no such monitoring and care have been provided.
Mark Potter
, NBC News,
Venice
,
Louisiana
.
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