A peer review of a controversial August federal report on the whereabouts of oil from BP's Deepwater Horizon well upholds its conclusion that three-quarters of the oil had been burned, skimmed or was in the process of degrading, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Tuesday.
NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco acknowledged that she was wrong in August when she said the original report, which was viewed skeptically by many scientists, had been peer reviewed. The 217-page report released Tuesday was that review, and it validated the initial findings.
Lubchenco said that ongoing studies are under way to reach a conclusion about the oil spill's environmental cost.
"I can't emphasize enough that it doesn't tell us where the oil is today or what its final fate will be or the impact," Lubchenco said.
The initial report was released on Aug. 4, just slightly more than two weeks after BP successfully capped the well, which had gushed an estimated 4.1 million barrels of crude oil in the Gulf of Mexico over 87 days, the largest accidental oil spill ever.
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