We should in no way be shocked that the original estimate BP gave the world in regards to the spill -- 210,000 gallons a day -- could very well in fact be way way way off. 

Professor Steve Wereley of Purdue has estimated the leak could be as large as 100,000 barrels a day -- that's 4,200,000 gallons a day. Or, to put it more succinctly, the spill could be twenty-six times worse than originally thought.

At 100,000 barrels a day, you're talking about 4,200,000 gallons a day. Meanwhile, the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989 dumped 10,800,000 gallons of crude oil.