I am not at all detracting from the devastation and seriousness of the oil spill!   But for God's sake CRYING CONGRESSMAN Butterfield from LA. what kind of leadership is that?   Woe is us all is lost I am going to cry on camera,  he should be angry and rallying the people to push for the feds to  allow all efforts to go foward to try and stop the damage.

The water pressure at 5000ft down is around 2700 lbs. per square inch,  probably higher due to water temp. density increase.   They've been forced to go to these depths because of the bans.   There was a Mexican oil rig accident in the 70's that lasted for 9 months at a much shallower depth. 

Hopefully the top kill stopped or slowed the thing down today!