See live video of the Gulf oil spill

A live video feed of the leaking Gulf of Mexico oil well, posted online Thursday after members of Congress exerted pressure on BP, is sure to fuel anger against the oil company.

"We will triumph over this tragedy through technology and transparency, so our best minds can bring all resources to bear to end this spill," Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., said in a statement.

"This video will allow the world to see the damage that is occurring in our oceans and reinforce the urgency to end this disaster," he added.

Heavy demand has been slowing access to the live video feed, but here is the main site:
http://globalwarming.house.gov/spillcam/

Sen. Bill Nelson also featured video, and the widget above, on his site.

"The broader scientific community and our university experts need to see all this so they can add to our knowledge of what happened and why," the Florida Democrat said in a statement. "Plus, we need to make sure everybody sees what's going on down there."

Carolinas contingency plans to deal with oil spill

Officials from North Carolina and South Carolina said today that chances are remote that oil from a leaking well in the Gulf of Mexico could make it to the beaches of the Carolinas and it would likely be weeks from now if it did.

"We think there will be a minimal impact, if any," Ricky Platt, director of the S.C. Emergency Management Division, told The Associated Press. "But having said that, we're still in the unknown."

The worry is that the loop current in Gulf of Mexico will pull the leaking oil around the Florida peninsula and then north toward the Carolinas.

Both N.C. and S.C. have contingency plans in place to deal with the oil should it reach our shores.

• Read the S.C. plan here (PDF).
  
• Read the N.C. plan here (PDF).

What if the oil spill covered Charlotte?

WCNC producer Jeremy Markovich created this amazing graphic that shows just how big the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is.

He writes:

We traced the Gulf Coast oil spill on Google Earth and then dropped it over Charlotte.

The main part of the spill covers almost all of Mecklenburg and Cabarrus counties.

Another part of the slick would be somewhere near Shelby, and another large part of that spill stretches as far west as Asheville.

(h/t CLT Blog)

UPDATE: Check out these spectacular, chilling photos of the oil spill at Boston.com's Big Picture blog. (h/t Tommy Tomlinson):





The Observer's Mark Washburn, who's been covering the spill in New Orleans for McClatchy Newspapers, is working on a fascinating story about what happened on the oil drilling rig Deepwater Horizon on the day it exploded. His story, which will be in Sunday's paper, is one you won't want to miss!

What questions do you have about the oil spill? Are there specific angles you'd like to see the Observer concentrate on? Let us know in the comments section ...

Underwater video shows oil gushing like a geyser

Video released by BP shows oil spewing from a broken pipe 5,000 feet below the surface of the water. The oil looks like steam rushing from a geyser.

The video released Wednesday gives a glimpse of the leaking well. The stream occasionally can be seen becoming lighter as natural gas mixes into the gusher.

Natural gas has been flowing from the well since the beginning. BP's Doug Suttles says the rate natural gas has been flowing out hasn't changed in the 21 days since the Deepwater Horizon exploded in the Gulf of Mexico.

Watch the video

More underwater video from the spill:

Dramatic photos of burning oil rig

McClatchy obtained images of the offshore oil rig Deepwater Horizon as it burned in the Gulf of Mexico April 21, 2010, including this one taken shortly before it sank.

Click here to view other photos.

Click here for more photos from Gulf Coast.

Check out this link for more updates from McClatchy.

The latest:

Emergency workers along the Gulf Coast today raced to defend sensitive shorelines from the massive oil spill, authorities said they'd stopped one of the leaks at the deep-water well.

It won't reduce the amount of oil flowing from BP's sunken rig, but it will allow the oil company to focus efforts on attacking the two remaining leaks, said Coast Guard Petty Officer David Mosley.

- Doug Miller