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.

Eight years ago, the 87-day BP Gulf oil spill had just begun

This year I am not in the Gulf of Mexico or even in America. I'm in the UK, where BP gas stations are ubiquitous and where people don't seem to fathom the enormity of the great environmental disaster that ravaged Louisiana coastal communities, in particular.

It's been eight years today, April 20, since the tragic moment the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded and with it, eleven fine men, rig workers from the region, perished. These men were: Jason Anderson, Dale Burkeen, Donald Clark, Stephen Curtis, Gordon Jones, Roy Kemp, Karl Kleppinger, Blair Manuel, Dewey Revette, Shane Roshto, and Adam Weise.

Audubon's David Yarnold released the following statement regarding the tragedy:

”Eight years ago 11 people died in the worst environmental tragedy the U.S. has ever seen. Restoration has just begun in earnest, and the passage of time won’t erase BP’s recklessness. In fact, we’re more concerned than ever about the rollback of laws and regulations that are helping to rebuild the Gulf.

Thanks to the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, BP paid $100 million in fines for causing the deaths of one million birds. But we’re alarmed by efforts in Congress and the Department of the Interior to weaken that law, (which) would give BP or others a free pass for killing birds in future spills.

It’s ridiculous to try and make the case after 100 years that this law can’t coexist with best industry practices when we have a century of proof to the contrary.

Audubon will oppose these bird-killing moves—we will engage our 1.2 million members who represent America’s political spectrum. We will bring 113 years of commitment to bird protection to safeguard one of the most important bird conservation laws in America.”

Yarnold points out that over 87 days, 130 million gallons of oil were "dumped into the Gulf of Mexico killing a million birds and other marine life."

Besides the oil that flooded the Gulf, an equally toxic blight, Corexit, sickened those birds, wildlife, marine life (including endangered Kemp's ridley sea turtles and dolphins) and notably, humans. Reports of sick children and families, particularly those who worked on the Vessels of Opportunity (cleanup crews run by BP and the U.S. Government) complained of chest pains, rashes, and more.

At meetings in the Gulf following the spill, images by noted photographers such as Mario Tama of Getty were published that show how this dispersant, banned in the very country that makes it (England), affected the workers. Red rashes all up the arms or legs; extreme weakening; breathing difficulties. These were just some of the physical effects the poor people of the Gulf of Mexico had to "prove" in order to get their compensation, and in many cases, some of them were too spent to fight for their rights.

Deepwater drilling continues. Men and women need to make a living. While stricter safety measures have been put in place by BP, how can that ever be enough? Despite environmentalists' and concerned citizens outcry, this appears to be a risk not only the company but the people of the Gulf appear willing to take. Now.

PHOTO: US Coast Guard, Wikimedia Commons Images.

Harmful algal blooms in Gulf of Mexico heighten environmental concern post BP spill

Harmful algal blooms can suck the oxygen out of the water column and mean certain death for fish, marine animals and birds, and cause toxic effects for people and local economies.

NOAA's Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services is providing routine HAB forecasts to help members of the public make informed decisions when a bloom is temporarily affecting their area. The forecasts also aid people responsible for responding to bloom impacts, according to NOAA's website.

Gulf of Mexico HAB Forecast - CO-OPS issues forecasts twice a week for the eastern and western Gulf of Mexico after confirmation of a HAB of the red tide species, Karenia brevis, and once weekly during the inactive bloom season. Red tide is the name for algal bloom when it is caused by a few species of dinoflagellates, a kind of aggressive plankton, and the bloom takes on a reddish color.

A bloom of some dinoflagellates can result in a discoloration of the water column (red tide), which can cause shellfish poisoning if humans consume contaminated shellfish. Some dinoflagellates also exhibit bioluminescence—primarily emitting blue-green light.

Currently, areas of the Gulf such as Padre Island in South Texas have experienced red tide, which can affect breathing quality for beach combers and kill marine life in the area.

As seen in this photo, algal blooms can contribute to what is called a dead zone, an area of hypoxia. Some dead zones occur naturally, but more and more this lack of oxygen stems from human causes - chemical runoff, for example, and the contribution to oxygen-depleting algal bloom.

PHOTO: Wikimedia Commons Images, NOAA, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AGulf_dead_zone.jpg.

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

World Oceans Day: The Florida Aquarium Rescues and Releases Rehabilitated Sea Turtles

In honor of World Oceans Day, The Florida Aquarium and its Center for Conservation team released eight rehabilitated Kemp’s ridley sea turtles on the Canaveral National Seashore in New Smyrna, Florida today.

The endangered sea turtles, who saw their numbers decimated following the 2010 BP oil spill, were rescued and flown from New England in December to The Florida Aquarium. According to a press release issued today, the Aquarium says the turtles were "cold-stunned from a harsh cold-snap weather event that hit the northeast United States."

The eight turtles were part of a group of 12 the Aquarium received and has been rehabilitating, with the remaining four currently continuing to undergo rehabilitation at their facility in Tampa. The Aquarium’s veterinary team expects a full recovery for the remaining sea turtles and is optimistic they will also be ready for release soon, according to the press release.

Cold-stunning happens to sea turtles because they are cold blooded and cannot regulate their body temperature. They quickly become hypothermic and can wash ashore or become stranded at sea during extreme, sudden cold-weather events.

When the sea turtles arrived in Tampa, they underwent treatment for skin and shell wounds, similar to frostbite in humans. Several of the animals were treated with antibiotics to help remedy pneumonia. After five months of care, all eight of these animals were eating well, swimming normally and gaining weight, signaling that the medical care and rehabilitation efforts had been successful and they were ready to return to the Atlantic Ocean.

On World Oceans Day, it's important to remember that these are the fortunate turtles. By 2014, at least 500 dead Kemp's ridley sea turtles were found in the vicinity of the spill sight annually. As of 2017, the exact numbers are hardly known as much of the research is both still being done, and yet to be shared with the public.

Yet, highlighting the positive, Aquarium Associate Veterinarian Dr. Ari Fustukjian, who played a key part in rehabilitating the animals, said: “It’s always a great day when we can get rescued sea turtles back out to the ocean. Rescue, rehabilitation and release of marine animals is a huge part of The Florida Aquarium’s mission, and is a critical component to protect and restore our oceans. What better day to send them back to the big blue than on World Oceans Day?”

Small photo: A typical New England coastline, West Haven, Conn., Laurie Wiegler; Large photo: a Kemp's ridley sea turtle, rescued by The Florida Aquarium and set free on World Oceans Day. Photo used with permission from TFA.

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

Repost from 2015: BP oil spill 5 years later: a young family struggles with oil, Corexit effects

The following article was published April 19, 2015 on Examiner.com. It's since been very lightly edited.

For one young family living in Long Beach, Miss., the Macondo well blowout and BP oil spill that began April 20, 2010 is more than a footnote in our nation's tragic environmental history.

For Christina Tillman and husband Derek, now raising three boys just a few miles from where they lived in coastal Pass Christian, Mississippi, everyday life means continual trips to the doctor and worries about their children's and their own long-term health.

While no one in the family worked on the Vessels of Opportunity, like many residents there, the toxic effects following the Macondo well blowout were horrific.

At the time, the couple's only son, Gaven, was 2. Prior to the BP oil spill, his mom says he was a very healthy little boy. But afterwards, she says, "We went to the beach every now and then, [and later] chemicals found in his body showed a lot of the symptoms and signs [of the toxicity of the spill.]"

Indeed. She shared the boy's bloodwork results with this reporter, which show that on Dec. 15, 2010, ethylbenzene in the amount of 0.1" to 0.3" ppb was detected, placing him in the 95th percentile for volatile solvents.

It cost the couple about $450 for this test, one of a flurry of bills they'd incur over the years as they struggled to handle not only the physical but the financial and emotional tolls of post-spill life.

Christina says they left Pass Christian because it was evident that it was toxic to live there. Not only did she and her family - including mother-in-law Shirley Tillman, who's spoken out frequently to the press and shared pictures of dead turtles she found on the beach - feel this, but so did visitors, who'd ask "what that smell was."

"We could smell it – it was the day after the explosion; they hadn’t even reported anything about it on our local news station," she says, echoing a comment from Daisy Seal, who underwent 13 miscarriages and whose child has experienced kidney failure.

“I remember going outside and smelling something that smelled like burning oil. I had commented about it – and for about 30 seconds that night they mentioned something about this thing exploding," she says.

And the dangers didn't just issue from the petroleum products, but from the copious amounts of Corexit being air dropped along the Gulf.

Tillman is a medical professional who has worked in the operating room as a surgical technologist, meaning she hands instruments to the surgeon. Now she is an instructor at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College.

She says that after the spill, that autumn, they were seeing a marked number of patients in for respiratory distress. Then they saw an uptick in the number of surgical cancellations in the pediatrics unit where she worked in Mississippi.

"On our particular surgery days, when it all first came about, the children and elderly started to get sick, and we would probably see anywhere from 300 to 500 pediatric patients a day in Gulfport. This was late 2010, early 2011," she says.

She says she saw a "drastic drop" in the number of surgeries that could be performed due to cancellations. Where they would do about nine to ten surgeries on a surgical day, that number was cut basically in half. Sometimes on a half-day workday there weren't any surgeries, which was highly unusual.

“The drastic drop lasted a good six months. It started kind of decreasing gradually from I would say probably May, slowly started to decrease and there was a huge drop and it remained for a good halfway to the end of 2011," she says.

"But I will tell you we never made it all the way back up the chain when I left in December 2011 because I just remember when I first started working there it was fast paced ... we had a full case load and were trying to get 'em in and out."

Meanwhile, the Tillmans were dealing with their own health problems - Gaven's issues and then the health battles of the children who were to come: Maddox, now 3, and little Declan, 3 months. Big brother Gaven is now 6, going on 7.

Following is the edited version of the list of symptoms her family sent to this reporter:

Derek (husband/father):

"His symptoms started severely around November (2010) and lasted about three to four months. These symptoms were a lot like what you would experience with severe allergies, a cold, or flu," she says.

• Severe nasal congestion and sinus inflammation (rhinitis and sinusitis)

• Severe cough and chest congestion

• Sore throat and extreme redness

• Tonsilitis, bronchitis, and laryngitis

• Red, watery, burning eyes and irritation

• Nausea and vomiting

• Dizziness

• Severe body aches

• Sores and lesions in the mouth and throat

• Severe headaches

"None of his sympoms ever lead to infections, so he never really had a fever. Maybe once, when his symptoms were at their most extreme in November. Once they went away a few months later; he was better than the rest of us. Derek has asthma, his asthmatic symptoms were very severe during this period," says Christina.

Christina (wife/mother):

"Severe symptoms started around October to November and lasted for almost a year off and on," she says. "I was sick for a good six months ongoing, after that it would go away and return. A lot of the symptoms [were] the same as Derek's, but lasted longer."

• Severe nasal congestion and sinus inflammation (rhinitis and sinusitis)

• Severe cough and chest congestion

• Sore throat and extreme redness

• Tonsilitis, bronchitis, and laryngitis

• Red, watery, burning eyes and irritation; "blood vessels would burst in my eyes and it would hurt"

• Nausea and vomiting

• Dizziness

• Severe body aches

• Sores and lesions in the mouth and throat

• Rashes that hurt and "looked like the map of the US all over the body"

• Fever

• Severe headaches and migraines

"The sinus congestion was unlike anything I had or have ever experienced. Your head would feel like it was literally going to explode from the pressure built up inside it. Your eyes would even feel like they were about to pop out of your head. It was horrible," she shares.

Gaven (eldest boy):

"This poor baby got the worst of everything. I'm going to list what I can remember of all his problems here, but I'm also going to attach what I had written up about his experience in case I miss anything [which was a very long list of symptoms.]," she says. "There was so much in his case. I was looking at his medical records and his symptoms started mildly in July, became more moderate in September, and were severe starting in September. His symptoms were ongoing for a year and a half, and lasted just over two years all together..."

• Severe nasal congestion and sinus inflammation (rhinitis and sinusitis)

• Severe cough and chest congestion

• Sore throat and extreme redness

• Tonsilitis, bronchitis, and laryngitis

• Red, watery, burning eyes and irritation; blood vessels would burst in his eyes and it would hurt

• Nausea and vomiting

• Dizziness

• Severe body aches

• Sores and lesions in the mouth and throat

• Several different types of rashes all over the body; sometimes splotchy, sometimes patchy, etc. His would even turn into these little lesions as well. One time they even thought he might have the measles because the rash he had seemed like the one associated with it.

• Fever (sometimes as high as 104 and 104.5)

• Severe headaches

• Ear infections

• Leukocytosis

• Sleep apnea

Maddox (middle boy):

"Around May of 2013 he started to experience some very mild symptoms associated with allergies. The problem was, and what brought major concern with Dr. Cupp [the family pediatrician], was the fact that they were a little more ongoing than she liked and she noticed that all of his lymph nodes were very inflamed. They did some blood tests and his white blood cell count was extremely high. She was concerned that he might have cancer, leukemia particularly," Christina says.

After further testing it was discovered that he did not and she was never able to pinpoint what was the cause of any of it, says Christina. In September of 2014, the same thing happened and he "had a mass that formed on his leg that was removed by surgery. They thought it was an infection, like staph, but it wasn't. That's when they became concerned with cancer once more and he was tested for leukemia again and also lymphoma. He has been doing fine since November of 2014 and she will test him again later this year just in case," Christina says.

Declan (the baby):

"A few days after Declan was born, he started having trouble feeding and breathing," Christina says. "Of course this was very concerning for us, so I approached his pediatrician with some videos of what was happening. In turn, his pediatrician became concerned as well. She sent him to a specialist at Ochsner's who had to do an endoscopy on him (while I had to hold him in my lap). That day, at two weeks of age, Declan was diagnosed with a few different disorders: one is called laryngotracheomalacia, which affects his feeding and his breathing."

She says his epiglottis did not form correctly; "instead of being like the hard cartilage it should be, it's very soft and flappy."

It also doesn't fully cover as it should, which can cause him to aspirate because when feeds he can take the fluid into his lungs..."

Eldest son had VOC in blood

Although Christina and her husband, a former minor league ball player who works as a plumber, also experienced problems, like most parents the focus was on the kids. In 2010, that child was Gaven, and with his severe symptoms and with the advice of toxicologist Rikki Ott, the boy was taken in for a blood test.

Derek's mom, Shirley Tillman, has been an activist following the spill, sharing pictures of dead, washed-up turtles that ended up published in international media. Ott has been fighting the use of dispersants such as Corexit, and is an Exxon Valdez spill survivor.

Sadly, the results of Gaven's blood test showed the presence of ethylbenzene when samples were taken Dec. 15, 2010. Ethylbenzene, according to the Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry, has developmental effects - meaning it can affect organs that are developing, as well as the nervous system.

It is a "colorless, flammable liquid that smells like gasoline. It is found in natural products such as coal tar and petroleum and is also found in manufactured products such as inks, insecticides, and paints..."

Going forward: it's not 'all better'

Christina and Derek have obviously been blessed with the births of not just one or two, but three boys. Their ability to maneuver the battery of medical tests and procedures, driving their boys to doctors far and near, some of whom thought Christina was crazy for drawing a link to the spill, is nothing short of remarkable.

Christina has thought all along that Corexit is dangerous, but mentioning this to some people resulted in them looking at her "like I'd seen a UFO."

Asked to comment on Corexit's effects in particular, the EPA did not get back to this reporter by press time. The million-dollar-question, of course, is why was the Gulf of Mexico a huge litmus test for a toxic chemical banned in the very country in which BP operates?

Asked to comment on Corexit's effects on the Gulf, a BP spokesman shared the following written statement from the company:

"BP’s use of dispersants during the Deepwater Horizon response was coordinated with, and approved by, US federal agencies, including the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the US Coast Guard. Throughout the response, BP worked closely with US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the US National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and other US government agencies to take extraordinary measures to safeguard the health and safety of responders.

Workers were provided safety training and appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE), and were monitored by federal agencies and BP to measure potential exposure levels and help ensure compliance with established safety procedures. Workers applying dispersants received training on work procedures and PPE usage designed to minimize exposures, and were provided respirators and other PPE.

Due to the extensive controls in place, there was little potential for worker or public exposure to dispersants. More than 30,000 air monitoring samples were collected by the Coast Guard, OSHA, NIOSH, and BP as part of a comprehensive air monitoring program to evaluate the potential for human exposure to dispersant and oil compounds. The results showed that response worker and public exposures to dispersants were well below levels that could pose a health or safety concern.

Extensive monitoring conducted by federal agencies and BP show that response workers and the public were not exposed to dispersant compounds at levels that would pose a health risk. Please see."

For families such as the Tillmans, who are still struggling with not only health effects but medical bills and a horrific emotional toll, the dispersants did not make it "all better." They have a medical claim filed and are hoping to receive some measure of justice; yet meanwhile, who will pay for even four more sets of blood tests that should be done for the rest of her family?

Everyday challenges for families in the Gulf include finding the time to take kids for tests of health effects these families just are not prepared to deal with. Other families might not even have health insurance, or both parents work. Who's going to take the kids in? A parent could lose his income if he spent 24/7 dealing with such matters.

While the oil spill was awful, the Corexit, made it worse. It made these children's health symptoms much, much worse. This is the truth, and while the truth is slow to come out sometimes, it is starting to emerge. Just look up "Corexit: rashes" and see what comes up on a Google search.

And why is it that the EPA is now seeking public comment to make amendments to how it uses dispersants following oil spills? Readers, you have til Apr. 22 to comment.

In a Twitter chat moderated by the Ocean Conservancy on Friday, numerous tweeters pointed out how toxic the dispersants were and are.

When this reporter tweeted, "#OurGulf @OurOcean Dr @SylviaEarle spoke out clearly against use of #Dispersants after 2010 spill started. What's yer position on #Corexit?," none other than Dr. Samantha Joye, the noted Univ. of Ga. biogeochemist, responded:

Mandy Joye ‏@SeepExplorer Apr 17 @WriterWeegs @OurOcean @SylviaEarle #OurGulf - no evidence that dispersants made things better other than keeping oil off shore."

Numerous scientific papers have been written about the use of dispersants since the spill, and Joye said in a following tweet that we can expect a paper from her team too.

In response to someone commenting on her tweet, that the news about Corexit still seemed "opaque," Joye wrote: "... papers coming out soon. Some questions answered ... Many more raised." Indeed, many more questions have been raised about the most horrific oil spill in US history, one that killed 11 good men on the rig April 20, 2010, and has since killed thosuands of dolphins, turtles, fish, brown pelicans, herons and much more.

“I got to where I quit running on the beach," Christina Tillman says of those days following the BP oil spill and dispersant airdrops. "In three months I saw two dead dolphins. I said that’s it – I am sick of seeing all the dead animals. I exercise, I run, and I used to go [walking on the beach]," she says, choking back tears.

"I remember seeing tons and tons of dead fish – in Pass Christian and in Long Beach – it was everywhere. Usually you will see a dead fish, but this was lots, dozens. It was hundreds of fish. But it was when I started to see the bigger mammals, like dolphins [that I just 'lost it']," she says.

"One day I thought it was a big piece of trash and it was a dolphin, and you have to call the marine people to come," she says.

Photos: Used with permission from Christina Tillman. Top: Maddox in the hospital, Bottom: Gaven then 6, Maddox then 3, Declan then 3 months. The boys are now 8, 5, and 2. Top photo by Heather Rafferty, Ella J. Reese Photography An earlier version of this story referred to Dr. Sylvia Earle, not Dr. Samantha Joye, as the noted UGA biogeochemist. It has been corrected.

Repost from 2011: UC Davis Environmental Toxicology Professor Breaks Down Why Dispersants Were Used

The following article originally was published on Examiner.com, August 10, 2011, a year and about a month after the Macondo well was capped. Since its publication, much research has been done on the effects of Corexit and petroleum in the Gulf, many of which can be accessed here.

Ron Tjeerdema, professor and chair of the UC Davis Department of Environmental Toxicology, has been a member of the scientific advisory panel to NOAA and BP on dispersant use in the Gulf of Mexico. Now he is a member of the US EPA Scientific Advisory Board's Oil Spill Strategy Review Panel, which is evaluating the agency's "Draft Oil Spill Research Strategy" to guide future research on spills.

Dr. Tjeerdema spoke to this reporter Friday about dispersant use in the Gulf, the chemistry of Corexit, and why sometimes hard choices have to be made. Following is an edited transcript of that conversation.

The Gulf community has been sharply critical of the way dispersants were applied after the oil spill. Do you concur that there is cause for concern? Why or why not?

I don’t think there's cause for concern. The problem with the Gulf spill was that it very quickly, because of the sheer size of the spill, the amount of oil coming out of the ground, it very quickly outgrew any other response capability in the Gulf. Because initially they did some booming….then burning and skimming. They did not have the resources to deal with it, so very early on it became an issue [of] there was only one thing left to do – let the oil come out unabated till they could eventually cap or they disperse. Unfortunately, that was the choice.

I view it as a shortcoming of the federal government and the oil industry. They were not prepared for this size of a blowout so it very quickly overwhelmed them. And so the choices were limited. I suspect that had they not dispersed, you’d be asking why they didn’t disperse. We will never know for sure [if this was the best choice because]…there wasn’t another well blowout [of this magnitude] that we could use as a comparison.

What is the EPA’s Draft Oil Spill Research Strategy? What have you evaluated so far?

It's not public information at this point. It’s known there is a scientific advisory panel. The EPA has a draft of the research they want to conduct in the future so they have asked us to take a look and give comments as to whether that’s a good direction to go in the future.

As it pertains to oil spills.

Yes. Without saying specifically what will be in it - it's [going to be] guidance for oil spill research in the future.

Do you have a quantity for me of how much dispersant was applied in the Gulf and are we only talking about Corexit or something more?

The best guest is 2 million gallons were applied to the Deepwater Horizon. Which is about 1 percent of the oil that came out. That is a 1 to 100 ratio, which is lower than would be applied [in some other situations]. Corexit is the main name of the dispersant used, but it included many other components. *

What are the health effects of this much dispersant? How does it affect people who say, travel up and down the shore every day for weeks on end?

Health effects depend upon amounts you are exposed to, and the more you are exposed to anything the more health effects you are likely to have. The vast majority of dispersants were applied at the well head 40 plus miles from the shore. People on the beach are not likely to have health effects. Dispersants are more likely to stay offshore in these clouds below the surface.

Explain what you mean by that.

What a dispersant does – it breaks oil into droplets. When you apply a dispersant to get oil off the surface of the water, if you apply a dispersant to that oil, instead of having this floating slick it breaks it up into a cloud of droplets 30 meters (98 feet) below the surface of the water, and droplets continually break up and dilute dispersants from there.

The idea is not only have you gotten the oil off the surface, you make more surface area for bacteria to digest the oil.

Microbes.

Yes. ###

UPDATE: 4-15-2017: As of today, the EPA claims that only 200 gallons of dispersant were used following the capping of the well. (Note, an earlier version of this blog today mistakenly said "the spill" rather than "the well". The original posting date was also incorrectly stated as 2010 instead of 2011, and that eight different dispersants were used. Eight dispersants were tested; Corexit was used. The writer regrets the errors.) Further, they say they are constantly monitoring the site, and testing of Corexit's effects has continued. For more information: https://archive.epa.gov/bpspill/web/html/dispersants-testing.html#phase2

* Prof. Tjeerdeema said the components in Corexit were a secret for a long time, not for any dubious reason but solely to protect against patent infringement from competitors. He pointed out that later the information became available on the EPA web site. The chemicals that make up the Corexit and the fact that the federal government kept this secret is a topic of concern and debate. Two main types were used: COREXIT 9500 and COREXIT 9527, which are essentially interchangeable. (The original story listed the chemicals used in Corexit; those chemicals can be accessed on EPA's website: https://archive.epa.gov/bpspill/web/html/#list.)

PHOTO: Wikimedia Commons Images.

BP oil spill 7-year anniversary: A look at Corexit's deadly effects on the Gulf of Mexico

Throughout the recovery of the Gulf of Mexico, scientists have been generally slow to pinpoint the specific blight dispersants have had on the toxicity in the water column. Yet, from the very beginning almost, scientists were telling reporters to wait til their papers were published, til others' papers were published.

A purported 1.84 million U.S. gallons of the dispersant called Corexit were used in the Gulf, much of it airdropped in areas like Barataria Bay, Louisiana, and around parts of Mississippi and Alabama most impacted by the spill that began April 20, 2010. The Macondo well was finally sealed July 15 of that year.

Well, several papers explaining the toxicity of Corexit, in particular, have been published, and they draw direct links to how its use is far more deadly than oil alone. For example, in July, 2014, in a study called "Dispersant, UV Radiation Increase Oil Spill Impacts on Zooplankton but Food Web Interactions may Reduce Them", investigators from the University of Texas Marine Science Institute, including students from California and China, assessed impacts of crude oil, dispersant, and natural phenomena on zooplankton from the Gulf.

Zooplankton is a form of plankton popular in the Gulf of Mexico, renowned for the arrow worm or chaetognath. This type of zooplankton essentially feeds on its own kind; and there are 24 types in the Gulf. Zooplankton, like other plankton, is a vital food source for fish in the Gulf and in the sea generally.

So when researchers found that oil plus dispersants were very toxic to zooplankton, it was a big deal. As they said themselves, zooplankton are vulnerable to pollutants - and pollutants were found aplenty in the Gulf following the spill. First oil, then Corexit.

Researchers wrote that "at the oil-dispersant ratio commonly used to treat spills, dispersant and dispersant-treated oil were over twice as toxic as crude oil alone and that UVB radiation further increased crude oil toxicity to zooplankton."

Investigators also found "bioaccumulation of selected polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in zooplankton; however, the presence of marine protozoans reduced PAH bioaccumulation in copepods and may mitigate harmful impacts and subsequent transfer to the food chain."

Further, researchers said: "Zooplankton also play a role in influencing the fate of toxins by absorbing, transforming, and eliminating contaminates. These complex interactions may potentially impact the larger marine environment. For this study, researchers focused on natural mesozooplankton assemblages and on the copepod Acartia tonsa, a widespread and dominant planktonic species in the Gulf of Mexico. The team used Light Louisiana sweet crude oil, considered to have similar chemical composition and toxicity to Deepwater Horizon oil, and Corexit 9500A in experiments to better understand the interactions between these pollutants and zooplankton."

Zooplankton samples were collected from surface waters in the northern Gulf and in the Aransas Ship Channel, at Port Aransas, Texas.” Presumably, zooplankton studied off the Texas coast would have been used as a point of comparison to the plankton in waters closer to the spill, such as around Louisiana and the northern gulf.

Researchers say the impacts from oil spills on planktonic communities “depends on many physical, chemical and biological factors,” and effects would “vary depending on the circumstances of each spill.” They want “further experiments that mimic the natural environment” to accurately evaluate the toxic effects and PAH bioaccumulation in zooplankton, because their findings suggest that zooplankton are “highly sensitive” to Corexit 9500A.

The study’s authors were Rodrigo Almeda, Zoe Wambaugh, Zucheng Wang, Cammie Hyatt, Zhanfei Liu, and Edward J. Buskey (PLOS ONE, 2013 8(6): e67212).

This research was made possible in part by a grant from theGulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI), a program established through a $500 million financial commitment from BP. For more information, visit http://gulfresearchinitiative.org/.

PHOTO: Sign protesting use of toxic "Corexit" chemical dispersant in the BP Gulf of Mexico oil disaster, at the Bastille Day Tumble, French Quarter, New Orleans; Infrogmation of New Orleans - by Infrogmation of New Orleans, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons Images.

(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.

Restore Council approves BP spill Louisiana State expenditure plan for $811.9M

The Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council Chair, U.S. Department of Agriculture, has approved the Louisiana State Expenditure Plan. The Council chair has found the Louisiana SEP is complete and meets all requirements contained in the RESTORE Act, the Department of the Treasury’s implementing regulations, and the Council’s SEP Guidelines, according to a press release issued today.

The USDA provided Louisiana with a letter of approval, reiterating the Council’s commitment to ensuring an efficient and effective process for funding the activities in Louisiana. More information regarding the projects funded with the BP oil spill award dollars was covered in today's press release, which states in part:

"Louisiana’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) announces that the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council (RESTORE Council) and the U.S. Department of Treasury (Treasury) have both accepted the CPRA’s First Amended Multiyear Implementation and State Expenditure Plan (RESTORE Plan) under the Resources and Ecosystems Sustainability, Tourist Opportunities and Revived Economies of the Gulf Coast States Act of 2012 (RESTORE Act). This plan describes how the state intends to spend its total allocation of $811.9 million over 15 years from both the Spill Impact Component and the Direct Component of the Gulf Coast Restoration Trust Fund (RESTORE Trust Fund). With the plan officially accepted by both agencies, CPRA can now apply for grants to begin implementing the important projects and programs described in the plan."

In September 2015, Louisiana was the first state to have a plan for spending then-available Direct Component funds from the Transocean Deepwater settlement, $39 million. The Bayou State is now the first to have a plan accepted by both Treasury and the RESTORE Council for the expenditure of all of its Direct Component and Spill Impact Component funds from the Transocean, Anadarko Petroleum Corporation and BP Exploration & Production Inc. settlements over 15 years. The activities include:

- the Calcasieu Salinity Control Measures project ($260.4 million) under the Direct Component

- The Houma Navigation Canal Lock Complex ($366 million), Adaptive Management ($60.9 million), the CPRA-Parish Matching Opportunities Program (up to $100 million), and contingency funds (approximately $24.6 million) under the Spill Impact Component.

According to the press release, the Calcasieu Salinity Control Measures project is southwest Louisiana's largest ecosystem restoration project. "Additionally, the Adaptive Management program will allow us to identify sustainable implementation solutions in a dynamic ecosystem while the Parish Matching program will enable us to partner with coastal parishes to advance comprehensive integrated coastal protection projects of particular local concern”, said Michael Ellis, Executive Director of the CPRA.

The RESTORE Act allocates 80 percent of all Clean Water Act penalties paid by those responsible for the 2010 BP oil spill to the RESTORE Trust Fund for the restoration and protection of the Gulf Coast region. The Act contains five funding components, one of which directs 35 percent of funds deposited into the trust fund to each of the five Gulf Coast states in equal shares for ecological and economic restoration (the “Direct Component”), and one of which directs 30 percent of the funds deposited in the trust fund to each of the five Gulf Coast states to address the ecological and economic impacts from the oil spill based on a formula established by the Council.

For more information, please visit: The Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, "The State of Louisiana's First Amended RESTORE Plan".

Photo: courtesy of Wikimedia Commons Images, then EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson surveying the oil in the Gulf of Mexico at Grand Isle, La., June 11, 2010, EPA photo.

(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

'Patti Pelican and The Gulf Oil Spill' a hopeful, kid-friendly look at tragedy

The following article was originally published by Laurie Wiegler on Examiner.com, June 22, 2016. It has been lightly edited.

When Lynda Wurster Deniger saw the horrific sight April 20, 2010 coming from the TV set, she was devastated. "I would just sit there and bawl," she says of that day and the days that followed, the 87 days it took to cap the Macondo well off the southern coast of Louisiana.

But as a writer and former newspaper reporter, she wanted to turn her anguish into something that could help people. Her popular children's book, Salty Seas & His Heroic Friends, would prove the ideal launching-off point for the book she would write, buttressed again by the beautiful illustrations from Paulette Ferguson.

The children's book with the character of Captain Charley and friends Patti Pelican, Dottie Dolphin and Sammy Seagull introduced shrimping at sea, but it would be the second book, inspired by tragedy, that would be the writer's real challenge. And it was one she and her illustrator pulled off beautifully.

"I had Captain Charlie and Salty actually being involved in the boom and trying to help with the cleanup," Deniger says.

She began traveling around to Louisiana schools and sharing the story with school kids - not just reading to them, but "entertaining," she says. The sixtysomething light sees it as her mission to make sure the kids of today don't forget or in the case of the really young ones, miss learning about the Deepwater Horizon disaster.

"I don't mention BP in the book," she says, but acknowledges that the blown-up well on the cover is a pretty loud clue. She brings it up because someone said it'd be nice if BP could've helped in some way. Buying the books for the kids? Deniger sells them at the schools very inexpensively, and they come with a recording of her reading the book.

Asked if it was tough to put a positive spin on a tragic tale, she is not defensive. She explains that she went out to a rescue center to see how the brown pelicans were being washed. The oil-soaked birds' images that flooded the television airwaves for weeks were something else altogether up close.

"I called a man at the rescue center in Venice (La.) and asked if he'd be open to my coming down there," she says. "He said sure. I toured the facility, and took pictures, many of which would be used to make the illustrations (by Ferguson)."

The writer says she's not touring as much now, that interest is waning. People forget and move on, even as another oil spill, approximately 88,000 gallons from Shell Oil out on Timbalier Island, makes news. That gusher was snuffed quickly, hardly made national news, and certainly didn't inspire a book.

But the fact is: the state's national bird, the beloved brown pelican, is endangered. Thousands and thousands perished, and before they did so, suffered with oil-coated bodies. What Deniger is doing could be described as heroic, but she's not one to boast.

No, her mission is to make the kids understand.

"I take a bottle of water and dirty oil I got from my mechanic, and mix it together to show the kids," she says. I ask, 'What do you think is gonna happen? And they go 'Wow!', because oil and water don't mix."

To buy the book, please visit Amazon or check with your local booksellers.

Cover art: Used with permission. Illustrator: Paulette Ferguson

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 Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council releases 2016 plan update

NEW ORLEANS, LA – The Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council has released an update to its 2013 Comprehensive Plan, the council shared in an emailed statement yesterday, Dec. 8.

The update provides additional "strategic guidance" for the council to follow as they make decisions on restoration funding projects in the Gulf of Mexico.

The group will meet to vote on the Comprehensive Plan Update and hear from restoration partners including representatives from the Deepwater Horizon Natural Resource Damage Assessment Trustees and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Gulf Environmental Benefit Fund.

The meeting will be next Friday, December 16, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Celestin Ballroom Section E (3rd Floor), 601 Loyola Avenue in NOLA from 9:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. The public is invited to attend.

For additional information, and to register for this meeting please click here. Onsite registration will be available on the day of the meeting from 8:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. This meeting is also available via live webinar and may be posted on www.RestoreTheGulf.gov. You can register for the webinar here (link is external).

The Comprehensive Plan Update is intended to improve council decisions by reinforcing the council’s goals and objectives, setting forth an initial 10-year funding strategy, and establishing the council’s vision for Gulf restoration, among other goals.

The Council has updated its Initial Comprehensive Plan to include recent developments in Gulf restoration such as the resolution of civil claims against BP for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

With the recent announcement that President-Elect Trump's proposed EPA Administrator will be Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, citizens of the Gulf have reason for concern: a ramp up, not winding down, of deepwater drilling means more risk for spills such as occurred in April, 2010.

PHOTO: Oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill approaches the coast of Mobile, Ala., May 6, 2010. Image via Wiki Commons.

Pregnant bottlenose dolphins give birth to premies, high mortality post BP spill

A new study published today shows that in the years following the April, 2010 through July 15, 2010, an unusually high number of pregnant dolphins gave birth to too small offspring. Many of these premies who were less than 115 cm in size had died by the time their bodies washed up along the shores of the Northern Gulf of Mexico.

Scientists wrote in Inter-Research Diseases of Aquatic Organisms that when comparing 69 bottlenose perinatal dolphin strandings to 26 reference strandings from another period at Florida and South Carolina, far more were found to have died shorty after birth (88 versus 15 percent), have pneumonia not linked to lungworm infection (65 versus 19 percent), and have fetal distress (87 percent versus 27 percent).

"These results support that from 2011 to 2013, during the northern Gulf of Mexico UME (Unusual Mortality Event), bottlenose dolphins were particularly susceptible to late-term pregnancy failures and development of in utero infections."

The news comes almost six years after the BP oil spill began in the Gulf, an event lasting 87 days before the Macondo well was capped. Copious amounts of controversial and highly toxic dispersant Corexit, banned in the UK, were airdropped in affected areas following the spill. Many studies are being conducted on effects of the dispersants, which have been worse on mammalian health, many say, than the oil alone.

The study's lead author was Kathleen M. Colegrove from the Zoological Pathology Program, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. This article was originally published on Examiner.com, Apr. 12, 2016Photo: courtesy of Wikimedia Commons Images. A bottlenose dolphin, http://www.public-domain-image.com/public-domain-images-pictures-free-stock-photos/fauna-animals-public-domain-images-pictures/dolphins-public-domain-images-pictures/bottlenose-dolphin.jpg, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service