The mystery of the disappearing oil — the government and BP’s fantastical claim that 75 percent of the spilled oil in the Gulf of Mexico had disappeared — will remain a mystery for at least another couple months, writes Kate Sheppard in Mother Jones (“Return of the BP Cover-Up“). It seems the NOAA scientists who authored the study have told congressional staffers that they aren’t ready to release the data that might support their claim. Sheppard smells a rat:

This, of course, raises the question of why the initial report was even released on Aug. 4 if it hadn’t been peer reviewed and couldn’t be substantiated with data, methodology, and full disclosure of the kind of assumptions that went into reaching this conclusion. The explanation of why the report was released by the National Incident Command and touted by administration officials seemed to indicate that the White House may have jumped the gun on releasing the initial report before the entire documentation was available.