Hurricanes & Oil Spills

5 Years After BP Oil Spill, Audubon Stewards the Gulf

5 Years After BP Oil Spill, Audubon Stewards the Gulf

In the wake of the worst marine oil spill in U.S. history, Audubon is working to protect bird populations and restore critical habitat across all five Gulf states. By Chris Canfield, Vice President, National Audubon Society, Gulf Coast and Mississippi Flyway This post has been cross-posted from an article originally published on the National Audubon Society’s website. This Monday marks five years since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded, claiming 11 lives and unleashing the worst marine oil spill in U.S. history. …

Five Years after BP Oil Spill: Focus Should Be on Continued Need for Restoration

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Emily Guidry Schatzel, National Wildlife Federation, 225.253.9781, schatzele@nwf.org Jacques Hebert, National Audubon Society, 504.264.6849, jhebert@audubon.org Elizabeth Van Cleve, Environmental Defense Fund, 202.553.2543, evancleve@edf.org Five Years after BP Oil Spill: Focus Should Be on Continued Need for Restoration   Leading Conservation Groups Challenge BP to Stop Campaign of Misinformation, Fund Restoration (New Orleans, LA—April 16, 2015) Monday, April 20, marks five years since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded, killing 11 men and spewing at least 3.19 million barrels …

Using adaptive management to help restore coastal Louisiana

By Estelle Robichaux, Restoration Project Analyst, Environmental Defense Fund This post is part of a series about oil spill early coastal restoration funding and projects, be sure to check out parts one and two. In November 2014, the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) announced that its Gulf Environmental Benefit Fund would award more than $13.2 million to Louisiana’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) to fund and further develop parts of its Adaptive Management Program. Louisiana’s Coastal Master Plan …

The Science of the Spill

By Alisha Renfro, Coastal Scientist, National Wildlife Federation The blow out of the Macondo well claimed 11 lives and began the largest marine oil spill in U.S. history. It took 87 days to finally cap the well and by then at least 134 million gallons of crude oil had been expelled into the Gulf of Mexico. With the source of the oil nearly a mile below the surface of the water and at four times the size of the Exxon …

5 Years Later – Birds Still Need Your Help

By Ashley Peters, Communications Associate, Audubon Louisiana In 2010, waves of oil in the Gulf strangled and crippled the very birds that conservationists had been fighting so hard to protect, like the Brown Pelican and Piping Plover. The outpouring of support was incredible as tens of thousands of people signed up to volunteer with the National Audubon Society, all of them asking, “How can I help?” In response to the 2010 Gulf oil disaster, the Audubon Coastal Bird Survey (ACBS) …

BP's Sleight of Hand

This post has been cross-posted from an article originally published on the National Audubon Society’s website By: Melanie Driscoll, Director of Bird Conservation, Gulf Coast Conservation/Mississippi Flyway, Erik Johnson, Director of Bird Conservation, Audubon Louisiana A BP-authored report claiming that the Gulf has recovered is inaccurate and insulting—here’s why. Nearly five years after the largest accidental marine oil spill in U.S. history, BP is doing its best to convince the public that the 4.9[1] million barrels of oil that leaked …

A visit to the Caminada Headland Beach & Dune Restoration project

By Estelle Robichaux, Restoration Project Analyst, Environmental Defense Fund The BP oil spill has had devastating impacts on Gulf Coast ecosystems and communities, but coastal Louisiana’s land loss crisis began decades before the disaster. The Clean Water Act fines and other money paid through settlements relating to the spill offer an unprecedented opportunity to restore Gulf Coast habitats and natural resources. Many of the early restoration projects funded in Louisiana are focused on barrier islands because of the important role they …

Exploring Early Coastal Restoration Funding and Projects

By Estelle Robichaux, Restoration Project Analyst, Environmental Defense Fund Five years after the BP oil disaster, Gulf Coast communities are still recovering, environmental restoration is still needed, and we will not know the full impacts of the spill for possibly decades to come. Comprehensive ecosystem restoration of the Gulf cannot begin in earnest until BP accepts responsibility and pays its civil Clean Water Act fines, which could amount to nearly $14 billion. These fines will be used for Gulf Coast …

Five years after oil spill, boat trips to Barataria Bay reveal tar balls, dying islands

Sadly, this is not an April Fools joke. Nearly five years after the BP Gulf oil disaster, we took a trip to Louisiana’s Barataria Bay to see the continuing and ongoing environmental effects of the spill. Representatives from Environmental Defense Fund, National Wildlife Federation, National Audubon Society, Louisiana Wildlife Federation and Restore or Retreat organized a boat tour for local and national media to see for themselves the continued negative effects of the spill and the dire need for restoration. …

Five Years Later: Gulf Oil Disaster’s Impacts to Habitat and Wildlife Still Evident

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Emily Guidry Schatzel, National Wildlife Federation, 225.253.9781, schatzele@nwf.org Jacques Hebert, National Audubon Society, 504.264.6849, jhebert@audubon.org Elizabeth Van Cleve, Environmental Defense Fund, 202.553.2543, evancleve@edf.org Five Years Later: Gulf Oil Disaster’s Impacts to Habitat and Wildlife Still Evident Leading Conservation Groups Highlight BP Spill’s Ongoing Effects, Continued Need for Restoration (New Orleans, LA—March 31, 2015) Five years after the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded, killing 11 men and spewing at least 3.19 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of …

Gulf Oil Disaster: 5 Years Later Infographic

It’s been nearly five years since the start of the BP oil disaster, and the negative effects are still being felt. New research conducted over the last few years indicates that the Gulf will likely take years, even decades, to recover. Below is a look at some of the unfortunate side effects that are still plaguing the Gulf today. Take Action Sign the petition today to make sure BP oil spill fines are put to good use! Help spread the …

Scientists Look to Food Webs for Better Understanding of Oil Spill Effects

When trying to understand how ecosystems function, scientists often look at food webs–the complex relationships between animals, insects, plants, and bacteria that govern who eats whom. Food webs in the Gulf of Mexico are as complex as they come. The different habitat types, from forests to wetlands to ocean, mean a diverse array of species. The Gulf food web would be nearly impossible to understand in its entirety, but we can simplify it into a chain to help us think …

Five Years After the Oil Spill, Dead Dolphins and 25,000-Pound Tar Mat Found

This was originally posted on the National Wildlife Federation’s Wildlife Promise blog. By Emily Guidry Schatzel, National Wildlife Federation One day after BP released a report saying the Gulf is on the road to recovery, we took a trip to one of the most impacted areas from the BP oil spill—Barataria Bay, Louisiana. From a dead baby dolphin to devastation at a bird rookery to active clean-up crews removing tons of oil from barrier islands, we found a very different picture from …

10 Things BP’s New Report Doesn’t Tell You

This was originally posted on the National Wildlife Federation’s Wildlife Promise blog. By Ryan Fikes, National Wildlife Federation BP has just released a new report on the state of the Gulf, called Gulf of Mexico: Environmental Recovery and Restoration. The glossy report is filled with footnotes and citations, but leaves key pieces of science out. Here are ten important things BP’s latest report strategically didn’t mention: Dolphins died before the spill – from freshwater The report says: “An “unusual mortality event” (UME) …

Third and Final Phase of the BP Trial Brought to a Close on February 2, 2015

By Will Lindsey  This is the second post about phase III of trial. To read part I, click here. The third and final phase of the BP trial ended on Monday, February 2, 2015. Based on the evidence presented in this phase, U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier will decide the Clean Water Act civil penalty that both BP and Anadarko, a 25 percent non-operator in the Macando well, will pay. The United States is seeking the maximum Clean Water Act …