BP oil spill 10 years later: Kemp's ridleys even more endangered

A new National Wildlife Federation report, 10 Species, 10 Years Later: A Look at Gulf Restoration after the Deepwater Horizon Disaster, looks at the latest information available about ten wildlife species that were affected by the BP oil spill as well as the restoration underway. The report describes several species that are still struggling a decade later including corals, coastal bottlenose dolphins and Kemp's ridley sea turtles.

NWF says that the endangered Kemp's ridley sea turtle’s once-promising recovery seems to have halted in 2010. Before 2009, Kemp’s ridley nests were burgeoning at a rate of about 19 percent a year; nesting has been erratic since the spill. Coastal bottlenose dolphins in oiled areas are still sick and dying a decade later. Successful births remain less than a quarter of normal levels. Corals in several locations — including some colonies that are more than six centuries old — still show signs of oil damage and are not expected to recover.

In a press call recently, David Muth, director of Gulf of Mexico restoration, said: "This was an extraordinary event, the largest oil spill in U.S. history and it caused extraordinary harm, triggered an extraordinary response."

The BP oil spill that began April 20, 2010 caused 11 men to die from the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig off the Lousiana coast. The battle to cap the Macondo well caused a scramble on the part of both British-based petroleum behemoth BP and the U.S. government. It was finally capped 87 days later, after a horrific cost to the Gulf of Mexico - from wildlife to marine life to the environment and residents.

The report describes restoration activities underway on behalf of Gulf wildlife, such as how restored barrier islands in Louisiana are providing a nesting habitat for brown pelicans and laughing gulls, as well as other coastal birds harmed by the oil spill such as terns and skimmers; and how endangered Kemp’s ridley sea turtles are benefiting from a multi-faceted project, which includes funding for protecting a nesting beach in Texas, and enhancing capacity to assist injured sea turtles Gulf-wide.

Jessica Bibza, policy specialist on the National Wildlife Federation’s Gulf of Mexico restoration program, said, “Many questions about the impacts of the oil spill on wildlife and habitats remain unanswered to this day.”

And Muth said: “Right now, we have an unprecedented opportunity to meaningfully improve the health and resilience of the Gulf of Mexico. Great projects are being put in the ground from Texas to Florida. We need to continue to focus on helping Gulf wildlife and their habitats recover from the oil spill while increasing their resilience to sea-level rise and increasingly extreme storms. We also need to make sure that all restoration investments are based on sound science.”

A 2016 Department of Justice settlement with BP resulted in the largest environmental bill in U.S. history, $20.8 billion, with the five Gulf coast states. So far, Muth says only $4b has been spent. He looks forward to putting the rest of the money to good purpose. "It is an opportunity we cannot afford to squander."

To read the report, visit: https://restorethegulf.nwf.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/nwf_gulfreport2020_web.pdf

Photo: By NPS Staff (Padre Island National Seashore, Division of Sea Turtle Science and Recovery) - NPGallery, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=80049956. NOTE: The area where these Kemp's ridleys exist is miles from where the spill occurred, but there is evidence of migration from other parts of the Gulf.