The national commission investigating the BP oil spill in
the Gulf of Mexico says that the White House stopped
the scientists from making their models showing their worst case scenarios for
the spill public. Scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) had prepared these models as early as two weeks following
the initial rig explosion. However, the commission does not state the reason
why the White House sought to push the worst case scenario model under the
carpet.

The original explosion happened earlier this year in April.
The oil rig belonged to the British Petroleum and was located in the Gulf of Mexico. A failure of the blowout preventer was
the reason for the explosion in April which killed 11. BP tried various methods
of stopping the leak, which by then had sprung in three different points. It
took BP another five months to successfully plug the oil spill. Varying
accounts of the amount of oil leaking into the ocean did its rounds. At one
point the alarming rate of the oil spill had Obama equate this to the 9/11
attack.

The commission states that the White House continuously
underestimated the rate at which the oil was leaking into the ocean. This gives
one the impression that either the government was incapable of handling the
spill or was deliberately keeping the correct scenario away from the American
public. The commission also places the blame squarely on the White House for
downplaying the long term effect the oil spill will have on the environment.
The report claims that the administration adhered to a report given by a
scientist after a casual study of the satellite images of the oil spill on the
ocean surface. The actual amount of oil spilled turned out to 12 times the
estimate given by the scientist.

The actual amount of oil that spilled out into the ocean and
the amount that is remaining in the ocean is a matter of debate.