in VOA Special English.Last year on April twentieththe Deepwater Horizonoil drilling rig explodedin flames in the Gulf of Mexico.Eleven workers were killed.Oil continued to spillfrom a damaged well head on the sea floor until July.It was the worstoffshore oil spillin American history.Officials estimate thatnearly five million barrelsof oil poured into the Gulf.Today, the surface of the waterlooks much like it didbefore the disaster.Natural micro-organismsin the water helped eat the oiland clean up the spill.Workers also usedchemical dispersantsto break up the oil.But John Hocevar,a marine biologist withthe environmental group Greenpeace,says most of the oilis still in the Gulf.JOHN HOCEVAR: "It's in the water.It's on the sediment.It's on the sea floor.A lot of it is washed upinto the wetlands.It is still there.It is still being eatenby marine life today."Tar balls continue towash up on beaches.And animal rescue teamsstill treat oil-covered dolphins,turtles and other creatures.Lisa DiPinto is withthe National Oceanicand Atmospheric Administration.Ms. DiPinto saysthe effects of such a huge spillcould have been much worse.She says tests show that fishand shrimp from the Gulfare safe to eat.LISA DiPINTO: "The seafood safetytesting that I have seenhas indicatedeverything is looking good."But she says the recoveryof the Gulf is far from complete.The full effects of the oil spillmay not be known for years.LISA DiPINTO: " We are lookingat things we've probably neverlooked at before as the resultof an oil spill.So we are looking at thingsin the offshore deepwater environment,as well as up through the water columnand all along the shorelines."BP agreed last year to puttwenty billion dollars into a fundto pay fishing boat owners,workers and other peopleaffected by the spill.BP is the British-based energy companythat operated the well and leasedthe Deepwater Horizonfrom the rig's owner, Transocean.In December the federal governmentannounced civil action against BP,Transocean and other companiesconnected to the spill.Observances of the first anniversarytook place along the Gulfof Mexico on Wednesday.The spill led the Obama administrationto halt deep-water drilling in the Gulf.That moratorium ended in October.But the government has givenvery few permits since then.Oil and gas companies saynew rules prevent them frommoving quickly to increase production.Administration officials saythey are preparing new rulesthat will do more to enforce safetyand let drilling operations continue.The Gulf of Mexico providesabout thirty percent of the oilproduced in the United States.President Obama says crewshave made progressin cleaning up the spill,but the job is not done.He says his administrationwill do "whatever is necessary"to protect and restore the Gulf Coast.And that's IN THE NEWSin VOA Special English.You can download transcriptsand MP3s of all of our programsat 51voa.com.You can also find captioned videosof Special English reportsat the VOA LearningEnglish channel on YouTube.