We knew this when it happened. The Pres of BP told congress this was not the major event government tried to make it.
He was right and was beaten up for it by unknowing government hacks and un-educated media.
I sensed that it would not be nearly the oil disaster that many people were assuming it was going to be. The oil was natural oil as it had yet to be refined, and it was a mile deep in the ocean. Plus Bjorn Lomborg said in his Skeptical Environmentalist book that even the beaches up in Alaska cleared up much quicker than many people could have imagined during the Exxon Valdez spill. He also pointed out that clean up crews purposefully left alone a few areas to see what would happen. Those particular areas recovered much quicker than the areas they cleaned up.