"All Better!"

The Federal Government last estimated that only 26% of the oil from the Deepwater Horizon Disaster remained in the Gulf. It had all just naturally disappeared, they reckoned. Shucks, the experts said, it just cleaned itself right up, and took all that toxic dispersant with it.
Well, maybe. They didn't actually test for it so much as poke around briefly, throw up their hands, and announce whatever their handlers wanted them too, namely that it was "all better", regardless of actual evidence or science.

Indeed.

"..it has "already evaporated, dispersed, been captured or otherwise eliminated — and that much of the rest is so diluted that it does not seem to pose much additional risk of harm...There’s absolutely no evidence that there’s any significant concentration of oil that’s out there that we haven’t accounted for,” said Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the lead agency in producing the new report.

Anyway, some actual scientists have concluded actual studies, rather than issue press releases from oil lobbyists, and announced that the numbers may be slightly different: more like as much as 79% of the oil and its toxic byproducts still remain in the subsurface waters of the Gulf. They found a evidence of a significant concentration of oil out there that was not accounted for.

"One major misconception is that oil that has dissolved into water is gone and, therefore, harmless," said UGA marine scientist Charles Hopkinson, the senior investigator in the effort. "The oil is still out there, and it will likely take years to completely degrade."

Federal researchers involved in preparing the earlier estimate couldn't be reached for comment late Monday. Officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Washington and New Orleans also couldn't be reached for comment.