UPDATED 13:01 PM EST, February 1, 2013
Just days after gasoline company BP pleaded guilty to illegal conduct surrounding the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill - and agreed to pay a $4 billion fine - officials at the Environmental Protection Agency have indicated they intend to take a close look at some environmental problems in the Gulf of Mexico.
The agency's Office of Inspector General announced it would start researching the Gulf of Mexico "hypoxic zone," an area that has little oxygen in the water and as a result, little marine life.
Investigators said they are hoping to find a way to stop the oxygen depletion.
