Mobile Press-Register:
MOBILE, Alabama -- Scientific analysis has confirmed that oil bubbling up above BP’s sealed Deepwater Horizon well in recent days is a chemical match for the hundreds of millions of gallons of oil that spewed into the Gulf last summer.
The Press-Register collected samples of the oil about a mile from the well site on Tuesday and provided them to Ed Overton and Scott Miles, chemists with Louisiana State University.
The pair did much of the chemical work used by federal officials to fingerprint the BP oil, known as MC252.
“After examining the data, I think it’s a dead ringer for the MC252 oil, as good a match as I’ve seen,” Overton wrote in an email to the newspaper. “My guess is that it is probably coming from the broken riser pipe or sunken platform. ... However, it should be confirmed, just to make sure there is no leak from the plugged well.”
Both the Coast Guard and BP say they have not discovered any fresh oil leak, though the rough waters may have hindered their search. They say they will continue looking for the source of the leak.
According to the Press-Register, the leak was first reported by Bonny Shumaker, a pilot for On Wings of Care.