Yesterday the Coast Guard reported that the damaged well on the seafloor in the Gulf of Mexico is leaking oil again, at a rate estimated to be 42,000 gallons (1,000 barrels) per day. This is bad news – it means the blowout preventer on that well is not doing its job, and that several attempts by BP, Transocean and the Coast Guard to operate a shutoff valve on the well using a robotic ROV have failed. The oil slick has grown rapidly and now covers 400 square miles.

If the blowout and spill off Australia last year offer any lessons, it could be months before this well can be brought under control and the spill really and truly stopped. This is already a “major” oil spill by Coast Guard definition (>100,000 gallons), and a human tragedy. Economic losses include the $600-700 million dollar Deepwater Horizon drill rig, and as-yet untold millions in response and cleanup costs (and lawsuits from the people who have been hurt). But this blowout and spill in the Gulf now threaten to become truly catastrophic.

The NASA satellite imagery we used to track that Australia spill have been unavailable since Friday. As soon as we can get anything we’ll do our best to get it posted here.