White House: All Gulf oil spill information on hand was made public

Washington (CNN) -- The Obama administration made public all information available throughout the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Thursday in response to a preliminary report that criticized how it handled the disaster.

"This was an unprecedented environmental disaster met with an unprecedented federal response which prevented any of the worst-case scenarios from coming to fruition," Gibbs told reporters when asked about the report made public the previous day. "When we had information, we gave it to the public".

According to the working paper released Wednesday from the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling, the administration vastly underestimated the tens of thousands of barrels of oil pouring into the Gulf after the April 20 oil rig explosion that caused the disaster, despite contrary information from scientists using better methodologies.

The explosion claimed 11 lives and led to more than 60,000 barrels of oil being spewed into the Gulf daily for almost three months.

According to the working paper, the White House Office of Management and Budget squelched higher worst-case estimates accepted by government officials, preventing the public from hearing them.

CNN