Beef prices could reach record levels and stay into 2015

A government report says the drought gripping much of the U.S. is the largest since 1956, with more than half the nation experiencing moderate to extreme drought. With no relief in sight, the arid conditions may soon start having a noticeable effect on the prices of everything from food to gasoline.

The biggest drought in more than half a century is leaving fields from Ohio to California dried up and desperate for rain. "We've never seen a drought like this," Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn told reporters. "You can see firsthand how depleted, how serious this matter is," Quinn continued, holding up an ear of dried-out corn.

The Department of Agriculture estimates that nearly 40 percent of the nation's corn crop is in poor condition, and Purdue University economist Chris Hurt says that's bound to have a ripple effect on the economy. "There's no question that this is a major drought and it's going to cost us tens of billions of dollars," he observes.

Here's why: According to the USDA, corn accounts for more than 90 percent of feed grain production, so as the price of corn goes up, so does the cost of feeding and maintaining cattle. That could lead to higher prices for meat and dairy products in the grocery store, hitting consumers at an already tough economic time. Read more >>

Scientists challenge BP containment claims

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msnbc.com
Some scientists are taking issue with BP's statement that a containment cap placed over a gushing well could be capturing "the vast majority" of oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico.

They suggest it's misleading, if not irresponsible, to make such a statement when the company has acknowledged it doesn't know how much oil is flowing from the busted well, or how much the spill rate has increased since engineers cut a riser pipe so it could properly fit the containment cap.

"I don’t see that as being a credible claim," said Steve Wereley, associate professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue University and a member of the Flow Rate Technical Group, a national panel of scientists and engineers tasked with determining the spill size.

"What I would say to BP is, show the American public the before and after shots of the evidence on which they’re basing that claim," Werely told msnbc.com on Tuesday.

"I do not know how BP can make that assertion when they don’t know how much oil is escaping. I would say that statement is their hope and aspiration," added Ira Leifer, a researcher in the Marine Science Institute at the University of California Santa Barbara who is also a member of the flow-rate panel.

On Sunday, BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward told the BBC that he believed the cap was likely to capture "the majority, probably the vast majority" of the oil gushing from the well.

Asked in the interview if he was being overoptimistic, Hayward responded: "I think there's no doubt that it has been difficult to predict because all of this is a first. Every piece of this implementation is the first time it's been done in 5,000 feet of water, a mile beneath the sea surface."

On Tuesday, BP said the containment device captured 14,800 barrels of oil the previous day, the highest capture rate yet since the system was installed last week. The company said Hayward's statement was totally consistent with the official spill estimates to date.

"We've always said it was an estimate and there's uncertainty attached to that whatever estimate you choose to go with," said John Pack, a BP spokesman in Houston. "But it wouldn't change the nature of our response, which is to firstly stop what's going on in the subs, to contain the oil and collect it, and protect the shoreline and clean it up."

The official government estimate of the flow rate is 12,000 to 19,000 barrels a day, which means the new device should be capturing the bulk of the oil. But some scientists have said those flow numbers could represent just the lower range and that the rate could be multiple times higher.

Worst-case scenario?
Leifer said based on the data he's seen so far, the rate of flow from the broken well has increase since the initial April 20 explosion at the Deepwater Horizon rig, which killed 11 workers. He believes BP's decision last week to sever the well's damaged riser pipe in order to install the containment cap has increased the flow by far more than the 20 percent BP and government officials had predicted.

In fact, Leifer says, the well may be spewing what BP had called before the spill its worst-case scenario — as much as 100,000 barrels a day from a freely flowing pipe.

He said he's seen no evidence from BP to date that would be inconsistent from that dire scenario.

Judging by live undersea videos, "it looks like a freely flowing pipe," Leifer said. "From what it looks like right now it suggests to me they’re capturing a negligible fraction."

It's unclear how much oil is still escaping because scientists don't have access to enough data and the video feeds show a "disorganized cloud" of oil shooting out of open vents in the containment cap and between the riser and the cap, Wereley said.

"It’s very difficult to judge flow rates from these multiple sources," he said. "My position is that the claims (of capturing the 'vast majority' of oil) cannot be made because the flow is too complicated."

BP Bows to Pressure for Oil Leak Livestream

CBS
Hours after hearing a demand from a congressional chairman, BP announced the oil company would provide a live broadcast of the oil spill from a government website.

“This may be BP’s footage, but it’s America’s ocean," Massachusetts Democrat Rep. Edward Markey, the chairman who made the demand, said in a statement. "Now anyone will be able to see the real-time effects the BP spill is having on our ocean."

The chairman of a congressional subcommittee called on BP to release live video feeds of the oil gushing from a blown-out well in the Gulf of Mexico.

Special Section: Disaster in the Gulf

Earlier Wednesday, Markey demanded the broadcast so independent scientists could more accurately calculate the flow rate. He questioned why such data wasn't readily being made public.

"BP thinks it's their ocean," Markey said while chairing a House Energy and Environment Subcommittee hearing Wednesday.

Markey didn't stop with BP, reports CBS News Correspondent Sharyl Attkisson. He blasted the Coast Guard for what he described as letting BP call the shots.

Coast Guard officials were on a boat with BP contractors who stopped CBS News cameras from viewing an oily beach, and the Coast Guard - which is in charge of the investigation - admits it's had access to live video since Day One but wouldn't let Congress or the public see it, Attkisson reports.

Markey said there was "no excuse for withholding live video for 23 days."

Markey's demand came after BP released some video footage of the leak after other pressure from Congress. BP uses several remotely controlled submersibles to record video of the leak site 24 hours a day, according to a statement the subcommittee released.

“Congress and the American public have the right to know what is happening in real time, so that they can understand and react to the situation as it develops," Markey said in a statement.

Two professors at the hearing supported Markey. Steve Wereley, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue University, said uncompressed video from BP will help more accurately measure the leak. Otherwise it will be difficult to engineer appropriate solutions, Wereley said.

Wereley estimates the leak lets 70,000 barrels a day into the Gulf, much higher than the BP's estimate of 5,000 barrels a day.

Frank Muller-Karger, a University of South Florida professor of biological oceanography, told committee members an on-land system such as satellites are needed for measuring weather to know what is going on below the ocean surface.

Government agencies have set up a task force to focus on how much oil is spilling, but BP America President Lamar McKay said under questioning at the hearing that officials still don't know which estimates are correct.

"It's theoretically possible," that the larger estimates are accurate, he said. "But I don't think anyone who's been working on this thinks it's that high."