Is BP’S Macondo Reservoir Leaking More Oil?

Don’t believe the spin. BP hasn’t fixed the problem caused by the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon explosion.

Through rigorous “fingerprint” testing, LSU chemist Ed Overton confirmed that slicks sweeping across the Macondo Prospect since mid-August are made up of BP oil. “It is a dead-ringer match,” Professor Overton said. “I was amazed that the ratios matched as good as they did.”

Chemical confirmation that the oil is from the Macondo wellsite provides vindication for those who pursued the truth for months despite a hard-nosed campaign of denial, intimidation and obfuscation executed by BP and its partners in the federal government. It is this very type of corporate-government “teamwork” that The Big Fix – the critically acclaimed oil spill documentary – portrays in riveting detail.

Based on lab-certified test results of oil samples taken last month on Horn Island – a narrow strip of federally protected land just 12 miles off the Mississippi coast -researchers believe that fresh BP oil from the Macondo Prospect has made landfall more than 100 miles north of its origin.

“These lab results provide more evidence that the Macondo Prospect is still leaking,” says civil engineer Marco Kaltofen. “The data show that the Horn Island sample taken September 20th contains lighter hydrocarbons that normally degrade quickly. This oil looks like the original BP oil fingerprint from last summer. It’s very fresh and very toxic.”