One might think that seven years later, the chapter on Gulf recovery has closed. In fact, we’re really still in the early days of restoring the Gulf. BP settled its case with the U.S. Department of Justice and the five Gulf states just last year for $20.8 billion dollars. Money from this settlement becomes available for the first time this month and will be paid out over the next decade and a half.
The National Wildlife Federation calculates that more than $16 billion will be available for ecological restoration in the Gulf from all the various Deepwater Horizon fines and penalties. (Much of the remaining funds will go to the five Gulf states and several hundred local governmental bodies to settle claims for economic damages they suffered as a result of the spill.)
Roughly a quarter of the total has already been awarded or are in the process of being committed to projects across the Gulf. The money is coming back to the Gulf through three main sources:
- BP and Transocean’s criminal fines are being administered by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation via the Gulf Environmental Benefit Fund;
- The RESTORE Act, passed in 2012, which sends money from the Clean Water Act civil penalties back to the Gulf states; and
- The Oil Pollution Act fines which are allocated via the Natural Resource Damage Assessment process.
This is the largest environmental restoration effort in our nation’s history – but even it might not be enough to fully restore the Gulf. And given that each of these funding sources is being administered by different rules and by different decision-making bodies, it’s easy to see how even if everyone follows the letter of the law, they might end up failing to make a meaningful difference for the Gulf.
That means people have to step up. We will have to go beyond the minimum requirements to make restoration matter for the Gulf’s people and wildlife. We will have to follow the science and work across state lines, funding streams and agency silos.
That’s why the National Wildlife Federation released its new report Making the Most of Restoration: Priorities for a Recovering Gulf. We see this as our contribution to the collective conversation around Gulf restoration. We believe that the 50 projects in this report, if funded, will make real strides in the effort to restore the Gulf of Mexico and we encourage decision-makers to strongly consider these projects and others like them.
For many of the decision-makers, Gulf restoration has become a legacy issue for their careers. They realize that the ability to influence the spending of billions of dollars on projects on the coast and in the Gulf is something worth doing right. They also understand it’s something worth doing together, and that collaborating with neighboring states, federal agencies, local municipalities, conservation organizations, business owners, and sportsmen and women across the Gulf – this is time well spent.
The National Wildlife Federation is on the ground in all five Gulf states, working to restore the Gulf of Mexico!
“Public reefs typically would produce anywhere from 3 million to 7 million pounds of oyster meat a year. In 2010 and 2011, production dropped to barely 2 million pounds, then nosedived to just 563,100 pounds in 2012 before rising to 954,950 pounds last year.
The other Gulf States aren’t exempt from the oyster decline either. The cause of their decline is most likely due to a combination of factors cited in the media, such as hurricanes, drought, a booming coastal population, floods, and the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster of 2010.
Mississippi and Alabama have also reported on the decreased oyster population and the boom in their prices at restaurants. Chris Nelson is the vice president of Bon Secour Fisheries Inc. in Alabama, and he recently told the San Antonio Express News that:
“The impact of all these different problems, challenges along the Gulf Coast, have led to an historical low point in the production of oysters.”
The efforts to keep up with demand for oysters poses a potential threat to the resource as well because harvesters may be tempted to take juvenile oysters that still need time to grow and provide important functions in our bays and estuaries.
Regarding the concern over decreasing oyster populations in Texas, Bryan Legare of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department also reported to the San Antonio Express News:
“Drought plus a growing population equals no water entering the bays. The reservoirs aren’t releasing as much water as they need to for environmental concerns.”
Right now, all five Gulf Coast States are planning how they will spend billions of dollars of Deepwater Horizon oil spill recovery money. This is money allocated to Gulf States from the RESTORE Act, to be spent on restoration of the Gulf’s coastal region and marine environment.
Spending oil spill recovery money on projects and programs that will either restore or enhance Gulf oysters, like projects aimed at protecting our bays and estuaries, will not only benefit the health of the Gulf ecosystem, but will sustain our economy as well.
The National Wildlife Federation is working to restore the Gulf of Mexico for people and wildlife from Florida to Texas, and we need your help to continue our efforts. Please consider making a donation today!
The March 22 oil spill that occurred in the Houston Ship Channel moved out into the Gulf and traveled south over the last several days.
After hitting the shores of Matagorda Island late last week, oil has now been reported on the mid-coast of Texas on Mustang Island and on Padre Island National Seashore.
Oil Spill Update from Texas Parks and Wildlife Department — 1 p.m. March 31, 2014:
Most of the oil has been onshore at Matagorda Island since last Thursday, and contractor crews are at work removing it from the beach and other areas.
All of these barrier islands are critical in sustaining the health of the overall Gulf ecosystem and economy. These islands are home to threatened and endangered migratory bird species and other wildlife like sea turtles, and also serve as popular tourist attractions, drawing hunters, anglers, and wildlife watchers alike to the Texas coast. Unfortunately, the timing of this spill could not have been worse—it occurred during the spring migration season for numerous birds that rely on the Texas coast as stopping grounds for food, rest, and nesting while on their long journey.
Wildlife Suffering
“It’s definitely devastating to see the birds you work so hard to protect day to day suffer. Once the oil gets on them, they go into clean up mode which means not only are they expending precious energy stores on that process, but they are also ingesting it which often means death.”
NOAA has also reported discovering dead dolphins, sea turtles, and birds:
As of Monday, March 31, NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service teams report 21 dolphins and 4 turtles stranded. Most of these are in the Galveston area but reports from Matagorda Island are increasing. All of the dolphins were dead, two turtles were captured alive and are being rehabilitated. Most of the animals were not visibly oiled but necropsies are still underway. Approximately 150 dead birds have been reported in the Galveston area and 30 in the Matagorda area.
And the broader impacts from this oil spill will be unknown for some time—possibly a year or even longer from now. Greg Stunz, the director of the Center for Sportfish Science and Conservation at the Texas A&M University-affiliated Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, told Al Jazeera America:
“Scientifically, we’re very concerned. These are really key habitats. Small crustaceans just hatched weeks or days ago. Those life phases are particularly susceptible to pollution … and you won’t see the effects on them until a year later.”
This recent oil spill highlights the fact that funds anticipated to result from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill provide an historic opportunity to significantly invest in the health of the Gulf of Mexico and its coast – especially through implementation of the RESTORE Act. We need our decision-makers to invest in the Gulf so that this resilient ecosystem can continue to withstand disasters such as this one.
Make sure the Gulf is restored for dolphins.
And the Gulf was suffering even before the disaster struck. The Gulf Coast has repeatedly been devastated by hurricanes and experienced decades of degradation from oil and gas production. The Gulf Coast is losing more wetlands than anywhere else in the United States and it is losing them more rapidly than ever before. It has lost well over half of its natural oyster reefs that filter the water that flows into the Gulf and provide habitat for many species. Seagrass habitat is declining and stormwater is polluting coastal areas undergoing rapid urbanization.
Right now, we have the opportunity to address the ongoing impacts of the disaster as well as the Gulf’s pre-existing environmental problems—but only if we make our voices heard.
Congress passed a law called the RESTORE Act with strong bipartisan support in the summer of 2012. This law will send 80% of Clean Water Act civil fines paid by BP and other parties responsible for the disaster back to the Gulf States to support restoration efforts aimed at sustaining the health of the Gulf for future generations.
This has never been done before in response to any other oil spill. Typically, Clean Water Act fines – which are based on the negligence of the responsible parties and the amount of oil spilled – would go into a federal trust fund to use in response to future spills. The RESTORE Act sends those dollars right to the damaged communities themselves.
Money from the RESTORE Act will flow into different “pots,” each with its own restrictions:
- Pot 1 – 35%: Each Gulf Coast state will get the same amount of money to implement a state plan that will fund projects such as restoring wildlife habitats and improving water quality. This pot also includes a few vague categories like “job creation” and “infrastructure projects that benefit the economy,” which sound good but could open the door to spending the money on projects that won’t help the Gulf—and could cause further degradation.
- Pot 2 – 30% plus interest: The Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council will draft and implement a comprehensive plan for restoring the ecosystem of the Gulf of Mexico. In their plan, the Council argued that economic restoration of the Gulf Coast will be a natural result of funding ecosystem restoration programs and projects.
- Pot 3 – 30%: Each Gulf Coast state is required to develop and then implement a restoration plan that complies with the Council’s Gulf-wide plan. Heavily-oiled Louisiana will likely largest portion of this money, but each state is guaranteed a minimum percentage of funds from this pot.
- Pot 4 – 2.5% plus interest: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will create and implement a Gulf Coast Science Program. This program will support marine and estuarine research projects, conduct monitoring, and collect data on fisheries.
- Pot 5 – 2.5% plus interest. Each Gulf Coast state will establish Centers of Excellence – research facilities – to focus on science, technology, and monitoring of a variety of different Gulf issues, such as deltas, commercial development, and mapping of the entire Gulf of Mexico.
Given all of the competing projects potentially eligible for RESTORE funding, we need to let our decision-makers know that that funding natural resource restoration projects is the key to protecting both the coastal environment and economy, now and for our children’s future.
This is our chance to respond to the disaster and we can’t let it pass us by.