The Gulf of Mexico is still hurting from Deepwater Horizon oil spill: report

[Rhiannon12866]

Ten years after the oil spill, a new report reveals how the ecosystem is still impacted.

A decade after the oil spill, Gulf waters have not returned to normal conditions.

The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) authored a report outlining 10 species still affected.

A new report authored by a wildlife advocacy organization states that 10 years later, the United States's worst oil spill is still having adverse effects on wildlife in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill, owned by BP, occurred in April 2010 when a rig exploded and sank, killing 11 workers in the process. Media coverage of the event was characterized by images of a flaming rig, streaks of glassy black oil swimming through Gulf waters, and animals native to the area drenched in or dead from exposure to the oil spill.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that about 4 million barrels of oil were leaked into the Gulf over an 87-day period.

The legal battle that ensued following the spill resulted in the largest environmental damage settlement in U.S. history, with $16 billion being made available for restoration projects on behalf of all parties charged, per the report.

Many private and public resources were poured into restoration efforts, and BP even donated $500 million to the formation of the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative, according to the Smithsonian Ocean Institute. Researchers at the National Wildlife Federation (NWF), however, point out that the Gulf has yet to return to pre-spill conditions.

This result is “hardly surprising given the enormity of the disaster,” David Muth, the director of the Gulf of Mexico Restoration Program for the NWF, told AP. With more data available 10 years after the disaster, the report identifies how 10 species of animals were affected by the oil spill.

The 10 species studied in the report include Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles, the coastal bottlenose dolphin, the laughing gull, deepwater coral, Bryde’s whale, the Eastern oyster, the common loon, the Gulf sturgeon, the spotted sea trout and the brown pelican.


Read more: https://thehill.com/changing-america/sustainability/environment/491841-the-gulf-of-mexico-is-still-hurting-from



SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images

[lark]

1. Dolphin population in No. FL. is still far below the old norm, prior to Deepwater.

Also still far below the old normal are the egret population. Very sad.