The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has said the "vast majority" of the 4.9 million barrels of oil released into the Gulf has either evaporated "or been burned, skimmed, and recovered from the well head, or dispersed".
Many scientists are skeptical. Ronald Kendall, the director of the Institute of Environmental and Human Health at Texas Tech University, testified last Wednesday at a congressional hearing about the need for more research into the composition and extremely heavy use of toxic chemical dispersants to break up the oil in the Gulf
The bottom line is that a lot of oil is still at sea dispersed in the water column," said Mr. Kendall. "It's a big ecological question as to how this will ultimately unfold".
He added that it's "too early to draw the conclusion that the coast is clear, but there are species there that will tell us".
Painting a rosy ending for America's worst environmental disaster makes the government look better, but it also makes it easier for BP to minimize compensation to Gulf coast residents whose livelihood depends on those aquatic species.