Scientists are squabbling with the government about what happened to the estimated 4.9 million barrels of oil that spewed into the Gulf of Mexico from the BP well before the well was capped.
The dispute started a couple of weeks ago, when the federal government released a report that left the impression that most of the oil was no longer a problem. In releasing what it called its oil budget, the government said the vast majority of oil had evaporated or been captured, vacuumed up, burned or dispersed. And much of what was left in the Gulf was degrading quickly.
Some scientists couldn't believe what they were reading.
"We saw some press reports that 75 percent of the oil was gone, and we were alarmed at hearing that number," says Chuck Hopkinson, a marine science professor at the University of Georgia and director of the Georgia Sea Grant. Hopkinson says he believes those reports gave the public an "absolutely incorrect" impression, which the government failed to contradict. He gathered a group of scientists who came up with an assessment that 70 percent to 79 percent of the oil remains in the Gulf.