The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has confirmed parts of the BP oil slick have entered the Gulf loop current, which could carry the oil to the Florida Keys and even possibly up the Atlantic Coast. Government scientists say it could take seven days for oil to reach waters off the Florida coast. US officials have also opened talks with Cuba on contingency planning in case the spill reaches Cuban shores. Oil has already reached the fragile wetlands on the Louisiana coast. On Wednesday, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal said he had asked for intensified efforts to defend the coastline from incoming oil.

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal: “We’ve got to be completely focused on defending this coast. The cost — the difference between keeping this oil out and having this oil in this wetlands, it literally could be life or death for many of these species.”

At a congressional hearing Wednesday, a professor at Purdue University told lawmakers the oil spill may now be 95,000 barrels of oil, or four million gallons, per day — nineteen times BP’s estimate of 5,000 barrels a day.