On June 28, 2011 the Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Water and Wildlife held its second hearing regarding the progress of Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Early Restoration efforts after the April 20, 2010 BP/Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster just off the Gulf of Mexico.
While this disaster, which tragically took 11 lives and allowed oil to flow out for nearly 3 months, has all but disappeared from the mainstream news much of restoration of the marine ecosystems injured by the oil spill has yet to be initiated.
The Subcommittee hearing featured two panels, one federal and one non-federal, each providing their insights on the current process of damage assessment incurred in the Gulf Coast and each looking ahead to future plans and action.
The first panel consisted of Ms. Cynthia Dohner Regional Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Southeast Region and the Department of Interior's (DOI) Authorized Official for the Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration (NRDAR) process in the BP/Deep Water Horizon oil spill and Mr. Tony Penn Deputy Chief of the Assessment and Restoration Division, Office of Response and Restoration NOAA.
The second panel consisted of Dr. Donald F. Boesch, Ph. D. Member of the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling, Dr. Margaret Leinen, Ph.D. Vice-Chair of the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative Research Board, Dr. Erik Rifkin, Ph.D. Interim Executive Director, National Aquarium Conservation Center National Aquarium, Mr. Garret Graves Chair of the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, and Mr. R. Cooper Shattuck Chairman of the Executive Committee of the NRDA Trustee Council.
The panelists have confirmed that currently the NRDA has moved from the “pre-assesement” phase to the “restoration planning” phase of its assessment as noted under the Oil Pollution Act (OPA). In addition, one of the recent highlights has been an agreement between the Trustees for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and BP in the amount of $1 billion that would go towards early restoration projects which would essentially allow assessment of injuries under NRDA to run parallel to these projects.
While recent progress and the agreement between the Trustees and BP is a step in the right direction the entire assessment has been alarmingly slow with Mr. Penn giving a timeline of pre-implementation activities to be continued until the end of 2012. While it is important, as Senator Cardin claimed, that “accurate science” be used it remains a bit appalling that in this period ecosystems, especially ones that we heavily rely upon, will be allowed to sit in a damaged state.
Shortcomings of the NRDA process as noted by some of the panelists include the lack of independent scientific audits on trustee approved studies, the absence of “in place, in kind” measures as noted by the OPA, the ability for BP (the defense in the case filed by the Department of Justice) to have an active say on where studies are to be conducted and which ones they will fund, and the lack of adequate stock assessments to determine baseline conditions pre-spill.
This last shortcoming appears to be one of the greatest hindrances because even if BP, the responsible party, were to fund in full and even if the proposed restoration projects were agreed upon by all parties the lack of knowledge on pre-spill conditions and adequate assessments of fish stocks prior to this disaster means that many projects will be left to proceed blindly and will likely be a mere shot in the dark.
Although there is much litigation and imperfections to be corrected in this process the highlight of the BP agreement and the general cooperation between the federal agencies, BP, the Trustees and the states serves as a glimmer of hope that the Gulf Coast ecosystems and economies will not only recover but also thrive in unprecedented manners in the near future.
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