How Did the BP Oil Spill Affect Gulf Coast Wildlife? [Slide Show]: Scientific American

"As a result of this looming legal fight, much of what could be known about ecological impacts remains hidden. "Free and open access to scientific information concerning oil spills is not a given," note the authors of a Congressional Research Service report (pdf) on the oil spill's ecosystem impacts last October. For example, dead dolphins that washed ashore earlier this spring have been seized by the U.S. government. "NOAA and other federal agencies came into every lab with a dolphin in the fridge and confiscated it," says Casi Callaway, waterkeeper for Mobile Bay in Alabama. "All data, all studies, all work on dolphins was sequestered." ..."