Time to comment on priorities for restoring the Gulf, says RESTORE Council

The BP oil spill that began on April 20, 2010 and lasted 87 days, gushed 200 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana. Further tarnishing the ecosystem occurred following generous air drops of the dispersant Corexit around the area of Barataria Bay and in other affected regions, called "zones". Birds, turtles, dolphins, and people were sickened by the horrific spill and the dispersant effects. Coral in the Gulf is still suffering, an additional pummeling besides the blight of climate change.

Now it's time for people in the Gulf, those most affected by this disaster, to voice their pain and share their experiences.

The Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council has announced the availability of the Draft 2017 Funded Priorities List: Comprehensive Commitment and Planning Support in accordance with the Resources and Ecosystems Sustainability, Tourist Opportunities, and Revived Economies of the Gulf States Act (RESTORE Act).

"In the draft CPS FPL, the Council proposes to provide its members with funding to enhance collaboration, coordination, public engagement and use of best available science needed to make efficient use of Gulf restoration funds resulting from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. These awards will support the Council’s commitment to a coordinated approach to ecosystem restoration, as called for in the Comprehensive Plan Update 2016: Restoring the Gulf Coast’s Ecosystem and Economy. The draft CPS FPL is now available for public and Tribal review and comment at www.restorethegulf.gov," they wrote in a press release issued July 13.

To ensure consideration, the Council must receive written comments on the 2017 Draft Funded Priorities List: Comprehensive Commitment and Planning Support by 11:59pm MT August 14, 2017.

Further, the second of two informational webinars will be conducted July 25 (the first was on July 13). You may register for the webinar in advance. Once registered, a link to access the webinar will be sent to the email address you provide: July 25, 2017 at 2:00 pm Central Time [Webinar Registration Link]: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/6303399390784342017

Please Note: all questions and comments typed will be considered as a public comment and will be part of the public record. This includes your name, e-mail, and any other information you provide.

Attendees will not have the ability to ask questions orally. When answering these questions, Council staff will not identify the participant asking the question(s). Council staff will provide written responses to all questions as part of the response to public comments.

HOW TO COMMENT: You may submit public comments via the following methods: Electronic Website Submission: www.restorethegulf.gov Email: frcomments@restorethegulf.gov Mail/Commercial Delivery to: Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council Attention: Draft FPL Comments Hale Boggs Federal Building 500 Poydras Street, Suite 1117 New Orleans, LA 70130

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Please send questions by email to RestoreCouncil@restorethegulf.gov, or contact Keala J. Hughes at (504) 717-7235.

Photo: Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons Images - Washing an oiled gannet, a victim of the BP oil spill, May 1, 2010

Repost from 2012: Tulane's new studies punctuate ongoing research on women's health after spill

The following article first appeared on Examiner.com, June 20, 2012. Since its publication, Dr. Lichtveld has published papers, which can be read here.The story has been lightly edited.

Today, April 20, is the seventh anniversary of the tragic and massive BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Eleven men, rig workers, would lose their lives after an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig owned by Transocean.

Yet, while the oil spill -- that wasn't shuttered for 87 days -- was horrific enough, the U.S. in concert with BP sprayed the Gulf with nearly 2 million gallons of dispersants, dispersants banned in the very country in which they are manufactured.

This reporter has followed the story from the beginning, including having spoken to numerous individuals who were in the zones most affected.

In the original posting of this story, I ran a picture by Mario Tama of Getty Images, dated April 18, 2011. The headline was "Lorrie Williams of Ocean Springs, MS developed severe health problems from the spill including lung polyps and liver damage. She believes this and her 42-lb weight loss as of Apr 2011 was caused by the dispersants."

While the media might focus on the recovery and how many brown pelicans were cleaned up, the deeper story is that oil is still at the bottom of the gulf and weighing the effects of oil-plus-dispersants is only beginning to show light. Scientists have proven, though, that together the mix is far more toxic than just using oil alone.

In the course of my reporting over the years, I heard then Plaquemines President Billy Nungesser explain how the EPA told them one day there would be no more spraying, only to reverse course and come back again. I heard people I respect tell me again and again that I'd have to wait until papers were published, or that choosing Corexit was the best choice at the time. It kept the oil from coming up on shore. Yes, sort of like hitting you over the head so you faint keeps you from tripping and falling into the pool.

...

Following is my story from 2012, in which I interview a prominent scientist studying the effects of the BP oil spill on women's health:

Dr. Maureen Lichtveld, Tulane's chair of environmental policy, met with this reporter a couple of weeks ago in her Canal Street office to discuss recent grants to her department. Announced June 1, an overarching study of potential health impacts of the Deepwater Horizon disaster on coastal communities is being conducted thanks to $18.7 million from the BP spill settlement, as well as $3.7 million from the Baton Rouge Area Foundation's Fund for the Future of the Gulf, which will facilitate the evaluation of environmental health risks to seafood.

Since last July, though, Lichtveld has already been overseeing a vital three-year project paid for by a $6.5 million grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. This one explores the potential impacts of the spill on pregnant women and females of reproductive age. Their focus is women living in Jefferson, Lafourche, Orleans and Plaquemines parishes.

Lichtveld said:

"Pregnant women are always a population of concern when there are environmental exposures, as the developing fetus may be vulnerable to even small doses of contaminants...To our knowledge, this is also the first study to examine maternal stress and anxiety related to a major oil spill and the associated effects on birth outcomes, fetal health and family-planning behavior.”

Last year's grant created the Transdisciplinary Research Consortium for Gulf Resilience on Women’s Health (or GROWH) at Tulane. It is quantifying potential exposure levels among women to environmental contaminants via seafood consumption and air emissions; studying how disasters affect reproduction choices; and exploring how the relationship between the environment and socioeconomics affect women’s health and pregnancies.

"GROWH will collaborate with vulnerable populations along the Gulf Coast to conduct transdisciplinary, community-based participatory research," the National Institutes for Health said last year.

The consortium also partners with community groups to conduct its research, partnering with communities to design the studies, Lichtveld said. These partners include Mary Queen of Vietnam Community Development Corp., Bayou Interfaith Sharing Community Organizing and Women Infant and Children (WIC) clinics in the affected parishes. Explaining how the school is able to use funds from the first, $18.7 million grant, Lichtveld said, "the school is in a wonderfully neutral position." BP has no involvement in how Tulane manages the money since it was part of their $7.8 billion settlement on the Gulf spill, she said.

Lichtveld, who had the surreal experience of starting at Tulane shortly before Katrina hit, says she is "excited" by her work. This includes a fascinating element of the community study, which will allow her to reach high schools and train students to learn about environmental health. Then these newly environmental medicine-savvy kids will allow the community to "recruit very competively."

Someday, hopefully, these high schoolers will be the new medical professionals in the gulf, able to assess health problems resulting from spills.

### - An earlier version of this report listed the awards in the wrong order. This version is correct.

PHOTO: May 2, 2010 - U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Thad Allen, then National Incident Commander, and then EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, briefed President Barack Obama about the situation along the Gulf Coast following the BP oil spill at the Coast Guard Venice Center in Venice, La.. Official White House Photo by Pete Souza; Author: USEPA Environmental-Protection-Agency

BP oil spill 7-year anniversary: National Wildlife Federation discusses funding priorities for Gulf

Where were you April 20, 2010? If you are like most Americans, you flipped the dial (we watched TV then) and saw a fire in the Gulf of Mexico. It may not have seemed like much at the time. Like all tragedies, it's often impossible to fully stomach the weight of such incidents until much later. And the BP oil spill was no different.

It took until July 15 that year to seal the Macondo well, the oil gushing to the tune of millions of gallons following the fire on the Deepwater Horizon rig owned by Transocean. In the months that followed, thousands of brown pelicans, Kemp's ridley sea turtles, herons, and fish perished. Even dolphins' offspring died, many of them washing up as premies on the beaches of Louisiana's coasts.

Today, Collin O’Mara, president and CEO, National Wildlife Federation; along with Ryan Sikes, Gulf of Mexico staff scientist for NWF; and David Muth, NWF's Gulf program director, weighed in on funding priorities for the Gulf. Remarkably, it's only this month they said that funds have actually started flowing from the massive BP payout to affected Gulf interests.

On its website, the NWF states, "On April 4, 2016, the Department of Justice and the five Gulf states finalized a global settlement with BP for $20.8 billion dollars, to be paid out over the next 15 years."

Importantly, though, NWF calculates that about $16 billion will be going to ecological restoration. The 2012 Restore Act dictates that funds from the Clean Water Act go to Gulf states.

Further, each Gulf state - affected in varying degrees by the catastrophe - will receive a portion of BP dollars each year through 2031. Specifically, $4.4 billion will go to the Gulf region via the RESTORE Act to be used for ecosystem and economic restoration and recovery. Another $8.8 billion is available under the Oil Pollution Act’s Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) process to restore areas where wildlife were damaged by the spill and where recreational areas were affected.

The breakdown is as follows:

- Texas will get $37 million annually

- Louisiana will receive $372 million annually

- Mississippi will get $50 million annually

- Alabama will receive $51 million annually

- Florida will get $74 million annually

NWF has created a handy, interactive map that delineates where dollars are going. Divided by states, one can key in whatever criteria interests them - i.e. click on Louisiana, then punch the Port Fourchon emblem - and information about how funds are being used pops up.

This reporter asked whether scientific studies of Corexit had been showing evidence of damage, and if lessons had been learned from the Gulf spill that would prohibit its use going forward.

Sikes took the questions, starting with the first part. He said a lot of research has been and is being done, for example with the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (or GOMRI). "They're in their seventh year of research looking at impacts of Corexit," he said. "We know it amplifies toxicity," he said in part. As for whether they'd learned their lessons, he said he wasn't at liberty to say.

NWF said that while so far, only a quarter of the $16 billion has been "committed to projects across the Gulf," the process is, apparently complicated and includes funds from criminal fines resulting from a $2.54 billion 2013 Justice Department settlement.

While the accounting of the spill is fairly complex and difficult for many to understand, seeing real results happen will be both welcome and obvious as they occur. For example, land loss in Louisiana is occurring at a frightening clip, and losing precious wetlands means losing habitat and nutrients — So if projects such as Timbalier Islands Barrier Island Restoration are successful, they will restore dune and beach habitat as well as reduce storm surge impacts, among other plusses. Likewise, the Isles Derniers Barrier Island Restoration project will restore those islands, offering beach, dune, and back barrier marsh habitat to protect them from storm surge impacts.

With the impact of climate change, glaciers are melting and seas are rising: New Orleans along with Miami and New York are extremely vulnerable to sea rise. The BP funds to help coastal restoration can help alleviate a plague that still challenges a recovering gulf, including oil still on the sea floor.

To see scientific studies detailing the effects of the dispersant Corexit on the Gulf of Mexico following the spill, click here.

For more information on how funds have been allocated in the Gulf, click here.

PHOTO: Wikimedia Commons Images. "Health, safety and environment (HSE) workers contracted by BP clean up oil on a beach in Port Fourchon, La., May 23, 2010. Hundreds of contracted HSE workers are cleaning up oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, which began washing up onto area beaches a month after the drilling unit exploded." Source:; Author: PO3 Patrick Kelley.

(Repost from 2015) BP oil spill 5 years later: one brave young woman and baby battle for health

The following article originally ran on Examiner.com, March 23, 2015.

Daisy Seal, a bright and brave young wife and mother from Gulfport, Mississippi, is unusually kind and even-keeled when discussing a horrific blight that would anger many to outbursts.

For, as a resident of this beachside community, she never thought she'd be right in the heart of the nation's worst environmental disaster. She was just taking her usual walks back in late April of 2010 when news came that there had been a spill further up the gulf.

Anyone who walks these beaches knows that it's normal to have a little black stickiness on one's feet. Small tar balls are ubiquitous. But what she found suddenly terrified her.

"It was bad. That stuff was all over the sand. There was more oily stuff than there was sand," Seal told this reporter today, Mar. 23. At the time, her son was seven and life was good. Her fertility to date had been solid: no miscarriages or any health effects to speak of.

All of that was about to change.

After the spill, Seal suffered 13 miscarriages. When her daughter Bella was finally born almost 14 months ago - a blessing beyond compare - she was born with severe health problems.

"I don't want people to feel sorry for her," the mother says simply, and indeed Bella is a bright and beautiful little girl. But she is underweight, her kidneys "haven't worked since birth", Seal says. She has end-stage renal failure and rickets.

It's actually too much for a journalist to even listen to. How can a mother manage?

"She has problems with calcium being too high and it causes her bones to be brittle and for them to twist and not grow properly and her brain not to have a chance to grow like it is supposed to," says Seal. "And her parathyroid hormones might have to be removed because they can't get hormones down."

Asked if she was being compensated by BP for this, she said her claim had been denied, that she was not able to sufficiently show the link, cause and effect. This despite the images showing the rashes she had, the "burn holes" in her arms and legs.

Of her post-oil spill fertility battle, she says, "I stayed sick all the time and I'd get pregnant and then lose the baby and they never could come up with a definitive reason why I kept having miscarriages. Young Bella, who only weighs 11 pounds at 14 months, is on Medicare because she is classified as disabled.

But her parents have been denied Medicaid despite their extremely low income. Her husband was a seafood cook but not any longer.

The family does not want sympathy, but they deserve help and they deserve care for themselves and their children. Presently, the little girl has to travel to New Orleans for her care. Mississippi doesn't even offer what they need, Seal says. Further, the young boy has asthma and needs help, too. Asked if she'd ever had a miscarriage before conceiving her son, she says no. Her health was good.

All this suffering traced back to that Apr. 2010 disaster in the Gulf. Oh yes, Gulfport, Miss. is considered Zone A. It's more in the line of fire than New Orleans is.

Reflecting back to that day five years ago, she relays that she was "just down there because it was something I did and got it all over my feet."

Asked what "it" is she explains it could have been both oil and Corexit. It was "one or two or both - I had to use gasoline to get it off. It was big balls..." She says, "We all just went down there to check it out and see what was going on because they were talking about it on the news. There were people out there, boogie boarding and stuff, and I think it was probably a few days later they saw cops stopped letting people go down there and pretty much closed the beach off."

Asked how many days she was walking there before realizing the danger, she says about three days, about how long it took the police to shut the beach down. Because of her lack of insurance, she only has documentation for two of the miscarriages, which she went to the hospital for. What she does have, though, is proof of the spill's effects.

A doctor tested her blood a few years ago.

"My blood was full of those cancer causing chemicals, VOCs," she says. She went with her mom to have the test because she kept having health issues.

Later this week, with the seventh anniversary coming soon, GOME will post another blog updating readers on Bella's health.

If you'd like to contribute to Bella's health fund, visit: https://www.gofundme.com/bellabutton

PHOTOS: L: beautiful little Bella; R: Bella and her mommy, Daisy. Bella was underweight at birth and has suffered a number of health issues.

(Repost from 2010) Delay in calling spill of 'national significance', other fumbles (part one of oil spill comm report)

The following article originally ran on Examiner.com, Oct. 7, 2010

In its report issued yesterday (Oct. 6, 2010), the Oil Spill Commission cites numerous problems on the part of the US government when handling the crisis that evolved from the April 20 blowout of the Macondo well, including unnecessary delays, inter-agency mismanagement and possible incorrect use of containment methods.

For purposes of brevity, herewith are highlights from the first half of the report, with part two to follow tomorrow:

* The response was supervised at a national level by a National Incident Commander. On April 29, 2010, the Coast Guard designated the disaster a "Spill of National Significance," and brought in retired Admiral Thad Allen of the US Coast Guard.

* "Though some of the command structure was put in place very quickly, in other respects the mobilization of resources to combat the spill seemed to lag. For about nine days, Deepwater Horizon response efforts continued with the Federal On-Scene Coordinator at the top of the command structure. National Leaders such as Dep. Secretary of the Interior David Hayes were innvolved, but the response was still largely regional in nature--the President had not been to the region, Cabinet secretaries had not yet become involved, and the responders were from the local area," it says in the report.

* Conversations regarding a spill of "national significance" actually first occurred, though, in the first week of the spill -- even though Allen was not brought in for 10 days.

* Dispersant use in the Gulf was questioned by the media, and about that time EPA administrator Lisa Jackson took over the role of overseeing dispersant use, with the federal on-scene coordinator (Paul Zukunft) and Regional Response Teams losing control of this responsibility. The Regional Response Teams are composed of regional representatives from state and local government. The US Coast Guard leads the Regional Response Teams during responses to oil spills in the coastal waters. Tomorrow, part two--including BP's role and an analysis of booms and berms.

*** PHOTOS: TOP: From Wikimedia Commons Images, A C-130 Hercules from the Air Force Reserve Command's 910th Airlift Wing at Youngstown-Warren Air Reserve Station, Ohio, drops an oil-dispersing chemical into the Gulf of Mexico May 5, 2010, as part of the Deepwater Horizon Response effort. The 910th AW specializes in aerial spray and is the Department of Defense's only large-area, fixed-wing aerial spray unit. Source: US Air Force public affairs story direct link; Author: Technical Sergeant Adrian Cadiz; BOTTOM: former EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, by Laurie Wiegler, New Orleans, April, 2011.

Despite 2010 tragedy, BP advances deepwater drilling in the Gulf

It's never in the news anymore. It was the biggest oil spill in U.S. history, but these days it's rarely even a footnote on the TV news or online.

Anderson Cooper recently remarked on Late Night with Seth Meyers that "it's not like the Obama administration was the most welcoming to the media" and that

President Obama hadn't agreed to an interview with him after the BP oil spill. Cooper had been down in the Gulf, as he had following Katrina. His reporting has historically been conscientious and thorough, yet even Cooper is beholden to whatever constraints CNN producers place on him.

This reporter/blogger spoke at a symposium at the University of Georgia in early 2011, and one of the attendees asked whether the event would be of interest down the road. A fellow journalist remarked that that was a good question.

But whether you, the reader, care or not; whether this issue is as flashy and newsworthy as it once was or not; the fact remains that BP is not only very much still in business, but at work in the Gulf.

Here is the activity around Louisiana waters:

1) Thunder Horse South Expansion: Started Dec. 2016. The company says on its website that, "The Thunder Horse platform is located around 150 miles southeast of New Orleans in over 6,000 feet of water. The South Expansion Project comprises a new subsea drill centre located two miles from the Thunder Horse platform. Three new wells and an existing fourth well are expected to tie-into the new drill centre. Topsides scope is minimal as a result of maximising use of existing subsea infrastructure." The deepwater oil project partner is ExxonMobil at 25 percent, with BP owning 75 percent of the interest. It is currently under construction.

2) Thunder Horse Water Injection: "The Thunder Horse platform is located around 150 miles southeast of New Orleans in over 6,000 feet of water. The water injection project is expected to develop an additional 65 million barrels of oil equivalent (gross). The project scope comprises refurbishment and replacement of existing topsides and subsea equipment, procurement and installation of new equipment and the drilling and completion of two water injection wells. Water will be injected from the two new wells into the reservoir to increase pressure and enhance production." The project is jointly run by Exxon, also at 25 percent. It was begun in May of last year.

3) Finally, Mad Dog Phase II "includes a new semi-submersible floating production platform with the capacity to produce up to 140,000 gross barrels of crude oil per day from 14 production wells. The new platform will be moored approximately six miles southwest of the existing Mad Dog platform, which is located in 4,500 feet of water about 190 miles south of New Orleans." It's jointly owned by BP at 60.5 percent along with BHP Billiton (23.9 percent) and Chevron (15.6 percent.)

The April 20, 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion resulted in an 87-day oil "spill" after killing 12 rig workers off the coast of Louisiana. Following that, the last presidential administration authorized the copious use of toxic dispersants, a.k.a. Corexit, to "cover up" the mess. An environmental worker familiar with the situation said it was the best solution at the time because it kept oil from spilling further up into the marsh and wetlands.

All told, about 200 million gallons of oil erupted into the waters off Louisiana, sickening and killing marine life and wildlife across the five Gulf states. Further, thousands of residents in the most affected areas such as Pass Christian, Mississippi; Orange Beach, Alabama; and Grand Isle, Louisiana reported sores, breathing difficulties, kidney problems, and weight loss.

>Photo: "A ship floats amongst a sea of spilled oil in the Gulf of Mexico after the BP Deepwater Horizon oilspill disaster." Wikimedia Commons Images. June 16, 2010; Flickr: Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill - Gulf of Mexico; Author: kris krüg

Six years after BP oil spill, dolphins, fish and corals inspire restoration

The following article ran on Examiner.com on the sixth anniversary of the BP oil spill, April 20, 2016

Six years ago today, April 20th, TV viewers nationwide turned on the news to see a horrific site: footage of a fire on a rig in the Gulf off the Louisiana coast. The BP oil "spill" had begun, and at the time, no one would have imagined it would take 87 days to cap the Macondo well.

Twelve workers on the Deepwater Horizon rig died that day. For their families, today is a sacred and painful reminder that the errors made leading up to the spill are deeply personal. There were also several serious injuries, and countless illnesses tied to the catastrophe.

Beyond the human tragedy, which included individuals still suffering health effects from working on a Vessels of Opportunity boat that would prove cruelly and ironically named, respiratory illnesses, kidney problems, weight loss, and mysterious rashes would fill their family photo albums.

The tragedy of that day doesn't just include the oil. The dispersant, so called Corexit from the UK - again, ironically since BP stands for British Petroleum - was airdropped by the truckload on Barataria Bay and throughout the gulf.

I spoke to Ocean Conservancy's Bethany Kraft, Director of their Gulf Restoration Program, who said this week that while scientific studies have been and are being done on dispersant effects, largely, at this stage, it's tough to parse what damage was done by them versus the oil.

"I think the jury is still out on that," Kraft said. "In the early days (of the spill), some decisions were made - it was a trade-off, because had all that oil reached the coast, it would have been an environmental and public relations disaster on multiple fronts. It would have been a PR disaster for the government and for BP."

Her concerns right now are numerous. Early restoration projects have begun, even as the bulk of the BP billions won't roll out until next year. Projects currently underway include a seagrass restoration project in Florida; a loggerhead, green, and Kemp's Ridley turtle project in Texas that seeks to offset bycatch by way of trawling with gear improvements and increased monitoring; and a Florida-based fishing gear conversion project that will help bluefin tuna fishermen.

Her overarching concern is addressing this question: "How do we put together the suites of programs in an order and in places where they will reap the most benefits?" She said, too, that it is critically important that as ecosystem restoration goes into overdrive that the science leads, not politics or personalities.

From dead corals to dead turtles, dolphins who give birth to premies who wash up dead on Gulf shores, to deep concerns about the health of the ecosystem and human residents, the legacy of all that oil and Corexit will last for decades, maybe centuries.

And the fix can't be myopic. For example, when addressing a watershed issue, look too at oyster issues and fisheries, helping the oyster harvest and shoreline protection, said Kraft.

Ironically again, had the spill not occurred, the coastal erosion issues are among many preexisting problems funded by the BP dollars approved by Judge Carl Barbier in the New Orleans federal courthouse. Even so, the funds are "a drop in the bucket in terms of what our needs are," Kraft said.

Are there any positives in the Gulf six years following the disaster? She said yes.

"I think we learned this ecosystem is resilient, even though any rubber band eventually loses its elasticity and breaks," she said. "It is reassuring in some ways, and one thing the spill did do was catalyze cooperation across the region like we haven't seen before."

However, she said with a dark laugh, "it's a really dumb business model to get hooked on."

PHOTOS: Top, the author on a boat in Barataria Bay, early April, 2013; Bottom, via Wikimedia Commons Images, Department of the Interior - June 30, 2010. Birds Prepared for Release at Fort Jackson Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=45431346

Gulf environmental groups respond positively to update of restoration plan

Today, the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council published an update of its Comprehensive Plan, worth billions, to restore the gulf post-BP oil spill. It augments the original comprehensive plan approved two years earlier.

One of the highlights of the report was that the Council is affirming its commitment to incorporate the best available science, which they note "will evolve over time" and with "changing conditions." One example of a science-based funding priority is developing "science tools to support freshwater inflow restoration" and prioritizing future conservation. Further, the Council is committed to studying the Lower Mississippi River to "support more holistic river management."

The plan's reaffirmation of the Council's commitment to science-based and other funding priorities is consistent with Congressional decree

: projects that are "projected to make the greatest contribution to restoring and protecting the natural resources, ecosystems, fisheries, marine and wildlife habitats, beaches, and coastal wetlands of the Gulf region;" large-scale projects to restore and protect natural resources, ecosystems, fisheries, marine and wildlife habitats, beaches and coastal wetlands; projects contained in existing Gulf Coast State comprehensive plans for restoration and protection of the aforementioned; and projects that restore long-term resiliency of the region's ecosystem, fisheries, and the like.

Collin O’Mara, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation, said of the update: “For wildlife in the Gulf of Mexico, the Deepwater Horizon disaster is not over. More than six years after the well was capped, dolphins are still dying, corals are still damaged, and sea turtles are still struggling to nest. The comprehensive plan as updated would help ensure billions of dollars are spent well on restoring the Gulf. We’re pleased with many elements of the draft—particularly the emphasis on coordination at all levels and the support for efforts at a scale that will deliver cumulative benefits to the Gulf of Mexico.

And Kara Lankford, interim director for Ocean Conservancy’s Gulf Restoration Program, said in a written statement: "

“The Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council is headed in the right direction, and we think this updated plan represents progress. This plan update wasn’t due until 2018, so the Council is ahead of schedule. The Council has a huge task ahead to help restore the environment of the Gulf region. Commendably, they have committed to restoring the Gulf ecosystem by working in a more holistic fashion, rather than state by state, or agency by agency. Dolphins and many other Gulf wildlife swim across state lines, and that is why it is necessary for Council members to work together to restore the Gulf ecosystem as a whole. Likewise, we’re pleased to see the Council include a renewed commitment to updating and improving how science will be utilized in its project selection processes.”

The Council will also hold a number of public and Tribal meetings across the Gulf to hear from the public and Tribes regarding this update. The locations, dates, and times for the public meetings can be found at RestoretheGulf.gov.

Caption: By U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Southeast Region - Oil arrives on Bon Secour (La.) Uploaded by AlbertHerring, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29827305

BP heads back to court Monday: Wants to downplay amount of oil that spewed into Gulf

This morning, the National Wildlife Federation e-mailed a press release, which I received. They remind that on Monday, BP heads back to court "to try and convince U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier that the company’s Deepwater Horizon well spewed just 2.45 million barrels of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico—significantly less than the 4.1 million barrels the government’s team of scientists has estimated."

The NWF, rightly, points out that BP "has a long history of downplaying the size of the spill—the company pled guilty to lying to Congress on this very topic."

Any decrease in the official estimate of the volume of the spill would greatly benefit BP’s bottom line, NWF says. "Under the Clean Water Act, BP will have to pay anywhere from $1,100 to $4,300 per barrel spilled, depending on the degree of negligence found.

Reducing the estimated size of the spill will also hurt the outlook for the Gulf of Mexico. Thanks to the RESTORE Act, 80 percent of the Clean Water Act fines will be sent back to the region affected by the disaster."

Here are some of the areas that NWF urgently wants addressed:

• Deep sea impacts: Just yesterday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released a study indicating that it may take decades for the deep sea ecosystem to recover.
• Dolphin deaths: NOAA’s investigation into the unprecedented dolphin and whale mortalities in the Gulf of Mexico—particularly bottlenose dolphins—continues.
• Oiled shorelines: In June, a 40,000-pound tar mat was found off a Louisiana barrier island and 200 miles of the Louisiana coast remain oiled. Tar balls from the disaster regularly foul the beaches and coastlines of Florida, Alabama and Mississippi.
• Blue crabs: Crabbers from Florida to Louisiana are complaining about low crab catches this year and scientists are investigating the oil disaster as a potential cause. 

NWF writes that BP is "...trying to walk away from the Gulf with as little liability as possible, most notably in its attempts to limit settlement payouts to businesses harmed by the spill."

Monday issues in the second phase of the trial, which will determine the company’s civil liabilities for violating the Clean Water Act, the Oil Pollution Act and other federal environmental laws.

The Clean Water Act civil fines are meant to be punitive, while the Oil Pollution Act requires that BP pay to repair the damage to the Gulf.

For more information, please click here.

Bold marks/hyperlinks are largely those of the writer's.
Note: an earlier version of this blog incorrectly listed the NWF as the National Fish & Wildlife Federation.
Caption for photo: An egret in the Gulf of Mexico was oiled because of the BP spill. Credits: U.S.Fish & Wildlife Service

Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council releases draft of restoration plan

Photo: Laurie Wiegler, 2013. David Muth of the National Wildlife Federation, Bay Jimmy, La.

At just after 3 pm CT today, the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council sent out a press release stating that they'd "marked significant progress today with the public release of the Draft Initial Comprehensive Plan: Restoring the Gulf Coast’s Ecosystem and Economy (PDF 621kb) and accompanying Draft Environmental Assessment (PDF 1.1 MB) for formal public comment".

The draft provides a framework, they said, to "implement a coordinated region-wide restoration effort in a way that restores, protects, and revitalizes the Gulf Coast region following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill"

The plan:

• establishes overarching restoration goals for the Gulf Coast region;
• provides details about how the Council will solicit, evaluate, and fund projects and programs for ecosystem restoration in the Gulf Coast region; 
• outlines the process for the development, review, and approval of State Expenditure Plans; 
• and highlights the Council’s next steps.  

The Council expects to release its final plan this summer, according to RestoretheGulf.gov, which issued today's press release.

The Council is hosting a series of public engagement sessions in each of the five impacted Gulf states next month. The 30-day formal public comment period for the Draft Plan and associated documents began today, May 23, and ends June 24.

Public meetings to discuss the Draft Plan are scheduled for the following dates and locations:

• June 3, 2013: Pensacola, Fla.
• June 5, 2013: Spanish Fort, Ala.
• June 10, 2013: Galveston, Tex.
• June 11, 2013: Biloxi, Miss. 
• June 12, 2013: Belle Chasse, La.
• June 17, 2013: St. Petersburg, Fla.

To view or provide comments on the Plan and associated documents and to get additional details on the upcoming public meetings as they become available, please visit www.restorethegulf.gov.

Comments can be submitted here: http://parkplanning.nps.gov/commentFormBasic.cfm?documentID=53621

Background
The Council was established by the Resources and Ecosystem Sustainability, Tourism, Opportunities Revived Economies of the Gulf Coast States Act of 2012 (RESTORE Act), to help restore the ecosystem and economy of the Gulf by developing and overseeing implementation of a comprehensive plan and action.

To read more stories about the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster and its aftermath, please click here.