Greenpeace has found traces of oil from the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico at a depth of 3,200 feet and up to 300 miles from the spill site, according to a report from AFP.

A team of scientists aboard the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise reported the results Thursday from 10 days of sampling around areas affected by the worst oil spill in history. “From the measurements we’ve taken, we see clear signs of oxygen deficiency on a large transect starting at the Macondo wellhead, all the way 300 miles to the west,” said Rainer Amon, a Texas A&M scientist who participated in the research in the AFP article. “How much of oil and gas components are still in the water is something that we need to now investigate in the laboratory.”

The expedition had four points plotted to the west of the well to investigate the main path of oil after the April accident that led to a massive release of crude oil. They concluded that the dissolved oxygen level was not as low as scientists would have expected if a greater proportion of oil and gas had dissolved in the water.

This suggests that oil has not “disappeared” some have suggested, and that as much as three to four million barrels of crude from the disaster have still not been accounted for. “Despite everything that BP and the government would like us to think, the truth is, the oil spill’s impact is not over,” said Greenpeace US research director Kert Davies. “Scientists know better, fishermen know better, the people of the Gulf and certainly the clean up crews endlessly picking up tar balls know better. The government and BP need to be honest with everyone about the extent of the damage.”

The researchers conducted a parallel study of sea lift, and obtained samples of sediment on the ocean floor at a depth of 4,20 feet, five miles from the disaster site. The article says that some of the samples contained visible amounts of oil with a strong smell, said Greenpeace in the AFP article. The samples have been sent to an independent laboratory for study and to determine the presence of chemical dispersants.

“When we’ve analyzed all the samples we’ve collected for our work and that of our colleagues, we hope to come up with a pretty good estimate of how much of the oil and gas was put into the system. Hopefully we can then come up with good ideas of where that missing oil and gas has gone” Amon says in the AFP article.

Some 205 million gallons of oil flowed into the Gulf after the April 20 explosion aboard the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon oil rig, impacting the crucial fishing and tourism industries and destroying hundreds of miles of the region’s fragile coastal ecosystems.

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The rest of us will have to live with the long-lasting impact, but not BP. Politico reports

During his time in the Senate and while running for president, Obama received a total of $77,051 from the oil giant and is the top recipient of BP PAC and individual money over the past 20 years, according to financial disclosure records.

For their $77K investment, BP is now getting special treatment according to CBS News. CBS has reported

BP and the Obama administration are discussing a possible settlement over fines for the company’s massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill in an effort to avoid a costly legal fight  ….  Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La.,  said the goal of the talks between BP PLC and the government is to reach a deal instead of having to fight it out in court.

CBS News further reports that BP faces penalties and fines under a variety of environmental protection laws, including fines of up to $1,100 under the Clean Water Act for each barrel of oil spilled. If BP were found to have committed gross negligence or willful misconduct, the fine could be up to $4,300 per barrel.  That means that based on the 4.9 million barrels released from the Macondo well, BP could face civil fines under the Clean Water Act alone of between $5.4 billion and $21.1 billion.

Any reduction in fines that BP can leverage out of the administration would give a healthy return on investment for BP and will show the value of the environment to Washington.