Gulf Coast Restoration Plans: conservation groups submit recommendations to Presidential Task Force

This week a coalition of leading conservation groups focused on finding long-term solutions for the Gulf of Mexico following last year's disastrous Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, submitted a blueprint for federal, state, and local action to restore the region's ecology and help communities dependent on the Gulf. Their recommendations were delivered to the Presidential Task Force on Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration which has an October deadline to develop a comprehensive strategy, dictated by executive order, "to effectively address the damage caused by the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, address the longstanding ecological decline, and begin moving toward a more resilient Gulf Coast ecosystem."

The Nature Conservancy, the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, National Audubon Society, Ocean Conservancy, National Wildlife Federation, Environmental Defense Fund, and the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation cooperated to produce the recommendations, entitled a Strategy for Restoring the Gulf of Mexico.

According to PRNewswire, the timing of the work is important. "The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is expected to soon vote on legislation that would provide funding to implement the Presidential Task Force's restoration plans. The Senate bill, the RESTORE Gulf Coast States Act, would dedicate 80 percent of the oil spill fines to restoring the Gulf's communities, economies and environments. Under current law, most of the fines will be used for general government spending, rather than being directed towards the Gulf."

"The Gulf is a national treasure and restoring it must be a national priority," said Wes Tunnell of the Harte Research Institute. "Too much time has already passed. We cannot miss this important opportunity to rebuild the Gulf and ensure it continues to support our nation's economy, communities and wildlife."

PRNewswire reported that some of the blueprint's recommendations include:

• Restoration activities should provide both environmental and social benefits.
• Ensure sufficient delivery of freshwater flows to the Gulf in order to maintain ecological health of bays and estuaries.
• Restore populations of endangered marine mammals, where their probability of extinction in the next 100 years is less than 1%.
• Construct and operate a series of large-scale diversions of freshwater and sediment from the Mississippi River sufficient to build and sustain Delta wetlands to provide storm surge protection for people and restore habitat for economically vital fisheries.
• Implement management plans for oyster reefs that support fish production, water filtration, nitrogen removal, coastal protection and other services that benefit both people and nature.

"If we really care about the Gulf and the communities that rely on it for survival, these fines must be used to restore the wetlands, marshes, oyster reefs, mangroves, fisheries and other natural resources that provide food, income and shelter to local communities – and the nation as a whole," said Cindy Brown, The Nature Conservancy's Gulf of Mexico Program Director. "The Gulf suffered the brunt of the spill and the fines should be used to bring the Gulf back to health."

Given the current mindset of Congress following the debt limit debacle, it will be interesting to see how the blueprint fares in light of the political trend towards spending cuts. It remains to be seen whether funding from fines will be directed to the project, thereby offsetting governmental outlays, or whether the fines will be retained to offset the current lack of government revenues.

"Although born of tragedy, there is a tremendous opportunity now for recovery of the Gulf. But we must think big," said Chris Canfield, Vice President of Gulf Coast Conservation/Mississippi Flyway with the National Audubon Society. "We must look and work across political and organizational boundaries. We know how to restore the Mississippi River Delta, to bring back wetlands and barrier islands, to make a better home for birds, fish and our communities. All we need is the resolve to do it."

"We hope our recommendations will help the task force develop its strategy, but the task force can't implement its strategy without the necessary funding that the RESTORE Gulf Coast States Act provides," said Courtney Taylor, policy director for the Mississippi Delta Restoration project at Environmental Defense Fund. "That's why Congress must hold the parties responsible for Gulf oil spill damage accountable by passing the RESTORE Gulf Coast States Act to ensure that we invest the oil spill penalties to restore the Gulf, or we risk losing this ecological and economic treasure."

We can only hope. But perhaps not. Perhaps we can do more. Let the White House and your Senators know that you want to see the Presidential Task Force and the RESTORE Gulf Coast States Act move forward. With the recent debt crisis, they finally acted, in part due to response from their constituencies. Perhaps we can get them to act responsibly again. Wouldn't that be a change of pace.

Dr. Susan Shaw: working towards a better ocean without chemicals

What is a marine toxicologist? Toxicology is the study of toxins and man-made chemicals and their impact on the environment. Turn that focus towards the oceans and you have someone like Dr. Susan Shaw, who has been studying marine toxicology for many years and serves as the Director of the Marine Environmental Research Institute (MERI) in Maine, USA.

Dr. Shaw's studies in the early part of the past decade brought about the discontinuation in the use of the flame retardant, Deca, which was working its way into the local marine ecosystem and contaminating marine mammals and commercial fish stocks. The impact of Deca is emblematic of the issue of supposedly beneficial man-made chemicals and what ancillary or side effects they have when they are allowed to work their way through various ecosystems.

Clothes and furniture can be made flame-retardant but repeated washings or improper disposal will cause the chemical retardants to make their way into the water system. There are many chemicals that can pass through most water treatment facilities (or get dumped untreated directly into the sea), and so ecosystems can be exposed to these chemicals - chemicals ranging from fire retardants to metal particles that make up the odor-eating protection in socks to so-called anti-bacterial agents in soaps. What these disparate chemicals all have in common is that they provide mankind with some sort of specific benefit, and they don't belong out there with mother nature.

Dr. Shaw, more recently, was very much involved in analyzing the effects of oil dispersants in the Gulf, following the Deepwater Horizon/BP oil spill. She was one of the few divers to actually jump into the midst of the oil in the Gulf to get first hand observations and she established an independent investigative group, Gulf EcoTox, to study the effects of oil and, in particular, oil dispersants on the food chain.

Understandably, that brought her inside the government's radar and, in 2010, she was appointed to the Department of the Interior's Strategic Sciences Working Group - a 14-member team that will assess the impact of the BP oil spill and make policy recommendations. Hopefully, those recommendations won't fall on politically deaf ears.

For her efforts on behalf of the oceans, the marine species within, and, in fact, all species (including man) that can be impacted by the subtle but pernicious effects of toxins, Dr. Shaw was recently awarded the 2011 Gold Medal from the Society of Women Geographers. In addition, the National Audubon Society's Women In Conservation Program is recognizing Dr. Shaw later this month as "Woman of the Gulf" the the annual Rachel Carson Award event in New York.

“Toxic contaminants in the oceans are a threat to marine and human life whether they are coming from oil and dispersants or from the flame retardants in our couches and computers. The scale of damage may be different in the Gulf of Maine and in the Gulf of Mexico , but we need to realize that polluting our oceans poses health risks to both people and wildlife,” said Dr. Shaw.

It's good to know that we have people like Susan Shaw looking out for our front, sides, and backsides. Marine toxicology may not be as "sexy" as other more publicly visible research arenas, but it serves to protect us from the important pollutants and, indeed, from ourselves.

Congratulations to Dr. Susan Shaw and all the "Dr. Shaws" toiling quietly behind the scenes.

Visit the MERI website.
Read about Dr. Shaw's accomplishments and recent recognition.

Key Ocean Events This Week: Gulf oil spill anniversary & Earth Day 2011

For ocean conservation, this is a week of remembrance, concern, commitment, and hope.

Deepwater Horizon
It was one year ago, this Wednesday, that the Gulf of Mexico was rocked by an explosion at the Deepwater Horizon oil platform which signaled the start of an agonizingly drawn out event: the 2010 Gulf Oil Spill. Over the course of three months, nearly 5 million barrels of crude oil spewed into the Gulf; killing sealife, invading fragile coastal wetlands, and leaving untold quantities of oil strewned over the bottom of the seafloor. And added to that was the questionable use of massive quantities of dispersants, forming a toxic soup that removed large quantities of oil from visible sight but could very well have done lasting damage to marine ecosystems at the micro level.

One year later, we commemorate this anniversary with caution and concern - and even a measure of guarded optimism. Dr. Carl Safina, who spent a considerable amount of time in the Gulf assessing the initial damage and the potential long-term implications for both the Gulf economy and ecology, said recently, "A lot of questions remain, but where we are now is ahead of where people thought we'd be. Most people expected it would be much worse." As reported in TIME magazine, like the microbes that saved mankind from marauding Martians in The War of the Worlds, oil-eating bacteria played a similar role in the Gulf, consuming vast quantities of oil.

"Scientists from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; University of California, Santa Barbara; and Texas A&M University traveled to the site of the blown well and found that microbes had digested much of the oil and methane that remained in the water," said TIME reporter Bryan Walsh. "By autumn, the levels were back to normal. 'It's very surprising it happened so fast,' John Kessler, an oceanographer with Texas A&M, told me earlier this year. '"It looks like natural systems can handle an event like this somewhat on their own.'"

But not all of the oil is gone and many scientists believe it will take years to fully assess the damage. What impact the dispersed or broken-down oil and trace elements will have on the basic building blocks of the Gulf ecology - the microscopic plankton, the larval fish and other sea creatures, the plantlife, and overall water quality - may not fully present itself for years or even decades.

It may well be that, unlike other areas of the world where major oil spills have occurred, the Gulf of Mexico may have a unique resilience. But it cannot be taken for granted. We must look at the dangerous method of deepwater oil drilling as an indication of the level of our oil addiction and realize that, as with a hardened drug addict, when our addiction-fueled actions become so desperate as to threaten ourselves and the world around us, then we must realize that we are at the edge and must pull back and chart a new and smarter course.

Earth Day 2011
Two days after the Gulf Oil Spill anniversary, comes a reason to celebrate and be optimistic for our future. Earth Day is April 22 and, from its beginnings in 1970, it has grown from a perhaps Woodstock-generation celebration of the planet to a sophisticated event designed to make young and old aware of our connection with the planet and ourselves.

It has grown into a network of individuals and organizations working together, at least for a brief moment each year, to bring greater awareness to environmental issues and to get something accomplished, no matter how small or how grand in scope. And that's where the optimism comes in.

Earth Day does not sugar coat or gloss over the global issues we face just for the sake of holding hands and singing Kumbyah one day out of the year. Through the Earth Day network and website, they work towards mobilizing people, particularly children, to take action. One of its key efforts is the Billion Acts of Green whereby people commit to doing something "green" to protect the planet. One less single-use plastic bag, one less lightbulb left burning, one less tuna or swordfish consumed in a restaurant - all can have a cumulative effect.

While Earth Day is only two days away, there is still time to check out the Earth Day Network website and see what events are taking place in your area or how you can get your local school or other organizations involved through the course of the year.

The leaders of Earth Day know it's just a day. What we do the day after - whether in the Gulf of Mexico or at your local beach - that's what counts for future generations and the planet itself.

Read more about the Gulf recovery. Visit the Earth Day Network.

Gulf Oil Legacy: not gone by 2012 according to scientist

In early February, the U.S. appointed head of the oil compensation fund, set up at the conclusion of the BP Gulf oil spill, declared that the Gulf of Mexico would be almost back to normal by 2012. Administrator Kenneth Feinberg said this was based on research he had commissioned.

Dr. Samantha Joye of the University of Georgia has a simple retort: he's wrong. Dead wrong.

Having traveled over 2,600 square miles using submersibles and taking over 250 seafloor core samples over five expeditions from prior to the April 20 spill to just this past December, what Joye has seen tells her that the oil is still there in great abundance and that the impact will be present for many years to come.

Making a presentation at a science conference in Washington D.C., Joye showed slides and video of dead sealife and oil residue that has not been consumed by the microbes that have been touted as the great Pac Man-like oil gobblers that would clean up the Gulf.

"There's some sort of a bottleneck we have yet to identify for why this stuff doesn't seem to be degrading," Joye told the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual conference in Washington.

"I've been to the bottom. I've seen what it looks like with my own eyes. It's not going to be fine by 2012," Joye told The Associated Press. "You see what the bottom looks like, you have a different opinion."

Much of Joye's work and that of several colleagues has been slow to surface to the attention of decision-makers and scientific journals because of a greater interest in reports of oil disappearing in the Gulf. Joye and her colleagues are the party spoilers.

But the hard truth is that, while it may be true that a considerable amount of the oil that flowed from the Deepwater Horizon disaster may be gone, there was such an enormous amount of oil in total, what remained would have a horrendous impact on the Gulf for many years to come.

Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), sides with Joye in her assessment and disagrees with Feinberg.

Lubchenco said, "Even though the oil degraded relatively rapidly and is now mostly but not all gone, damage done to a variety of species may not become obvious for years to come."

Joye sighted in her report not only residual oil and various dead sealife like crabs and brittle stars, but a soot-like residue from oil burning and also methane. Methane gas was released during the course of the spill which, according to a study just published in Nature Geoscience by Joye and three of her colleagues, equaled another 1.5 million to 3 million barrels of oil.

While there are several Gulf restoration projects beginning - some government-mandated, others part of out-of-court settlements - it would be prudent to turn to hard realists like Dr. Samantha Joye who can deliver the facts while governments and oil companies seek to sweep this all under an oceanic rug.

Read more from AO via U.K.'s DailyMail.com.
University of Georgia/Associated Press photos.

Mission Blue in the Gulf of Mexico: ocean exploration is no walk in the park

The ocean is an incredible laboratory for studying the complex intricacies of life itself. From the sea all life first came, so what better to place to learn. But it's not exactly a controlled environment where men and women in starched white lab coats can measure, test, and analyze in sterile, secure labs. No, out in the elements, it can be a challenging place where not all goes according to plan.

Dr. Sylvia Earle's Mission Blue organization knows this first hand as they have been attempting to study the after effects of the 2010 Gulf Oil Spill. It has been an expedition of successes and frustrations, but that is nothing new to anyone who has spent time on the seas.

There are many unanswered questions regarding the Gulf Oil Spill. Where has all of the millions of gallons of oil settled? Dissipated, evaporated, or consumed by bacteria and other microorganisms? Has it settled into the deep sea floor and is this having an impact on the many small bottom-dwelling forms of sealife that make an important foundation in the marine ecology. What of the many fish, like whale sharks and bluefin tuna, that migrate through the Gulf or use it as a primary breeding ground? Has there been an impact on them or their eggs or other larvae?

The list goes on and on.

"Speaking as a scientist," said Mission Blue researcher Eric Hoffmayer, "this oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico sort of caught us off guard. We don't know a lot about many of these animals. Whether it's whale sharks, tiger sharks, makos, whatever, we don't know what their habitat use is in the region. We don't have the baseline data. Without understanding how they use this environment, we don't know how the spill will affect them."

Ups and Downs
The Mission Blue expedition, supported by National Geographic, the Waitt Institute, and Dr. Earle's Hope Spots LLC, has been in the Gulf several times over the past few months. It has had great success in tracking down whale sharks that have been known to congregate in an area named Ewing Bank, off of Louisiana. This location is in relatively close proximity to the site of the spill. By tagging and tracking the sharks, in addition to studying the condition of the food sources that the sharks are living on as they pass through the area, researchers hope to gain some insight as to whether the oil has had an adverse impact on these huge filter feeders.

Mission Blue's latest expedition to the Gulf was planned as an opportunity to study marine life on the deep seafloor using the advanced ROV, Medusa, and travel throughout the water column, assessing the health of the openwater community using the two-man submersible, Deepworker. While the Medusa had several successful initial dives, using its red-lit video camera systems (red light, which fades quickly with depth, is less disturbing to deep water marine life as they are less sensitive to it), later dives were scrubbed due to rough seas.

Those wind-whipped seas continued to play havoc with a series of planned dives using the Deepworker submersible. A few dives were completed in shallow water, where Dr. Earle and Harte Research Institute director Larry McKinney had to contend with poor visibility - lots of phytoplankton to see up close but "big picture" views of the surrounding open water seascape were limited at best. As the expedition is drawing to a close, famed author and ecologist Dr. Carl Safina came aboard to share his experiences, having spent considerable time in the Gulf during the spill, and to hopefully get some dives in himself.



Perseverance in the face of challenging conditions is a fundamental requirement of ocean exploration. And if we are to understand the full ramifications of our actions on complex marine ecosystems with regards to oil drilling at sea, expeditions like that being undertaken by Mission Blue and other organizations will endure what nature throws their way and they will continue. The answers to so many questions must be found before we find ourselves faced with another environmental disaster; the result of our own ignorance.

Read about tracking whale sharks in the Gulf in NatGeo News Watch.
Read about Mission Blue's ROV and submersible in the SEA blog.

Gulf Oil Spill: six months later - never forget

It is now six months since the Deepwater Horizon well in the Gulf of Mexico erupted into one of the greatest oil spill disasters of all time. Many news outlets and conservation organizations are taking a status check at this half-year mark, to see where the environment stands, what has happened, and what needs to be done both now and in the future.

But for many of us, we would like to sweep it all under the rug. The Gulf oil spill competed with the economy and politics for our attention a lot longer than many other news cycles, and with many of those other issues still remaining, most people just don't have the stomach for it anymore. It's human nature and I understand that; call it a defense mechanism, a means to cope by emotionally and intellectually moving on.

And it would be such a mistake to do so.

The long-term effects of this spill must not only be studied by scientific research organizations, but the results of those studies and their implications must be proactively distributed to the decision makers and the general populace. In other words, we must continue to have our nose rubbed in it. The Gulf marine ecology has been altered - subtly or radically. And by remembering that the environmental and economic effects of this spill will be with us for years if not decades, it could be the seminal event that finally signals a shift in our attitudes towards fossil fuels.

If there could have been any kind of silver lining to this dark petroleum cloud, it would have been that alternative energy sources would have received the support and backing they needed to push those technologies forward, making their use more effective, efficient, and affordable. But with the U.S. government's decision to lift the moratorium on the deep water drilling, there is a sense of returning to business as usual, albeit with a few more safeguards in place - but a critical, opportune moment may be passing.

So, pay attention to those organizations that are still studying, still observing the impact of wildlife, analyzing the impact on human health - from direct exposure to the oil or more indirectly, through the food chain. Lend them your ears and your support. Here are a few:

Using the Law
The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) continues on the legal front with lawsuits to have the government check on tuna populations that were breeding in the Gulf at the time of the spill.
CBD also supported the Sea Turtle Restoration Project in their successful efforts to stop the burning of surface oil as it was killing sea turtles, burning them alive. And they continue to storm the gates of Washington to insure that environmental protection laws are rightfully enforced.

Studying Deep Water Impacts
Greenpeace has a research vessel and deep water submersible in the Gulf where they are conducting studies on the impact of the spill on deep water corals. A portion of the oil was thought to have settled to the bottom. If so, Greenpeace wants to determine what effect it may be having on deep water coral communities. Do entire reef communities of fish and crustaceans move on? And if so, how does that impact other marine communities beset by oil spill refugees?

Oil-Eating Microbes
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution has recently completed a study of the Gulf oil spill, verifying that there was a large oil plume that floated 3,000 feet below the surface. But they also determined that much of that plume was consumed by oil-eating microbes; more so than anticipated because of a high population of bacteria that has adapted to Gulf conditions. The researchers also found that the bacteria consumed less oxygen than expected, thereby diminishing the possibility of oxygen-free dead zones. All of which would be at least a relief, if not encouraging.

But the researchers still had plenty of questions and concerns as to what long-term effects all of this microbial activity could have on the Gulf ecosystem. Talking with Florida State University oceanographer Ian MacDonald, the PBS News Hour reported, "He cautions that many questions remain unanswered -- such as what has happened to the methane released into the water along with the oil, what percentage of the total oil released ended up in this deep-sea plume, and the environmental effects of changing the deep-sea microbial community."

Again, it's human nature to want to turn back the clock, to somehow take us back to when the waters were clear of oil, jobs were plentiful, and homes and credit were easily available. But if we succumb to that impulse, we are only setting up ourselves or the next generation for a repeat performance of what happened six months ago.

Never forget.

Read a six-month recap from the Center for Biological Diversity.
Read about Greenpeace's deep water coral research.
Read about Woods Hole's microbial research.

Shark News: important research in the Gulf of Mexico, California, and more

Several news items have been swirling around the shark conservation news outlets and blogs of late - from the big picture, population view to the more drilled down, scientifically-studied behavioral aspects.

Research in the Gulf of Mexico
In the aftermath of the Gulf Oil Spill, many research organizations are studying the current and long-term effects on the marine environment. Much of those effects can be very subtle and on a microscopic level that can slowly work its way up the food chain. Similar to the pollution from methylmercury that can work its way into larger ocean fish where it can accumulate, oil and the toxic brew generated from the massive use of dispersants could end up in sharks.

Oceana, one of the larger non-profit ocean conservation organizations, is embarking on a study of sharks in the Gulf through tagging and long-term monitoring of the tagged sharks health and migratory behaviors to detect any significant changes. In addition to sharks, Oceana will be studying the impact on many of the smaller organisms - the building blocks of a marine ecosystem.

As reported in Tampa Bay Online, Oceana's chief scientist Michael Hirshfield said, "We all notice the sharks and the whales and the turtles and the seabirds when an accident like this happens. If they die, it's pretty visible. It's the worms and the little tiny things that are at the bottom of the food chain that matter a lot to the rest of the Gulf ecosystem. If they die, we're not going to notice it.''

Sea Otter Predation in Central California
On the western coast of the United States, scientists with the California Department of Fish and Game have been recording an increase in the number of great white shark predations on sea otters along the state's Central Coast. From Pismo Beach to Monterey Bay, there has been a recorded 26 cases since August.

In most cases, these attacks are considered investigative bites and probably coming from juvenile white sharks who are in the transition process from feeding on fish to mammals (adult white sharks primarily feed on marine mammals like seals and sea lions). Not finding the sufficient taste and texture of fat that the white shark needs, it moves on. But even with an investigative nibble, that can prove fatal for the sea otter. Of the 26 reported cases, only one sea otter apparently survived.

The ten-year average for sea otter predations by white sharks is only seven in August; six in September. This year's spike could lead to a new record, surpassing 2009's annual record total of sixty-three.

Fish and Game scientists are studying the increase but a definitive reason has not been established. A mild summer with cooler ocean temperatures could be a cause - making conditions closer to shore (and closer to the sea otters) more tolerable. But it could also be indicative of an increase in the overall white shark population, as mentioned in an earlier post, which would be good for the white sharks, but poses a quandary for Fish and Game officials who are entrusted with protecting sea otter populations that have been negatively impacted from decades of overhunting and encroachment by man on their natural habitat.

The Monterey County Herald discussed the issue with Fish and Game scientist Michael Harris. "Shark attacks on otters are part of nature, Harris said, but they concern researchers who want to preserve healthy populations. 'It becomes complicated,' he said. 'They are both protected species.'"

Studying Electrical Sensitivity
Just a little further north along the California coast, the University of San Francisco was extolling the work of one of their own, Dr. Brandon Brown, the university's winner of the 2010 Distinguished Research Award. Dr. Brown has focused much of his recent work on the characteristics of the hydrogel in sharks and other elasmobranchs that gives these animals a type of sixth sense - the ability to detect faint electrical fields given often by other animals.

Many shark enthusiasts are familiar with this feature of a shark's hunting capability. The Ampullae de Lorenzini are the pores - a kind of five-o'clock shadow seen around the nose area of a shark - that contain the hydrogel, Dr. Brown has been studying. Through his research, one of the interesting results has been his analysis of how experienced and inexperienced sharks use the hydrogel in their hunting patterns.

According to a news release from the University's news room, "By comparing mathematical models to actual shark behavior, Brown has been able to witness sharks who use their “sixth sense” to make a beeline for the source while some, thought to be less experienced hunters, spiral in toward the source of the electrical impulses. Spiraling allows them to maintain the same orientation to the impulses as they approach, so as not to lose the scent, so to speak."

The research goes on and these amazing animals continue to fascinate us all.

Read the Tampa Bay Online article on shark research in the Gulf of Mexico.
Read the Monterey County Herald article on white shark predation of sea otters.
Read the USF article on Dr. Brown's research on elasmobranch's hydrogel.

Gulf Oil Disaster: never forget

Soon after the outset of the Gulf Oil Disaster, I posted that I would leave the reporting of the event to others - not only the mainstream media, but the many dedicated conservationists (like Dr. Carl Safina, Dr. David Guggenheim, and others) who were in a position to follow it on a day-to-day basis, who are able to literally wade into it to discuss the many environmental implications we face as a consequence of both our dependence on fossil fuels and the corporate greed generated by it.

As the drill head has been capped and we are now faced with the aftermath, I'm removing the live link that has been on this blog for these past few months. This was the link that showed the actual camera feeds from the many submersibles being used. Many of the submersibles are now on standby or have completed their missions. But that does not mean that our mission is over.

There are many issues and challenges that we must face, and we need to do it with our eyes wide open. The so-called "missing" oil, the effects of dispersant, the long-term effects on the environment and the industries that depend on the Gulf - all of these must remain fresh and alive in our minds. And we must remain forever the concerned skeptics when it comes to the proclamations that it's all behind us as the media moves on to the next news cycle.

So in the place of the live link feed, I have put in a simple reminder: Never Forget.

Gulf Oil Disaster: a few items of interest

News coverage of the Gulf oil disaster continues unabated, as well it should - we must never become anesthetized to this environmental bombshell of an event. Because there are so many news and conservation outlets following this on a daily basis with much better skill and detail than I could provide, I have left the subject in their able hands.

But here are a couple of items I wanted to bring up today:

IfItWasMyHome.com
My good colleague, multimedia producer Liz Smith, brought this web site to my attention. Assembled by Andy Linter, it brings together several timely widgets and news feeds, some of which I have mentioned in past posts. Included are the live camera feed, the counter showing the number of gallons leaked to date, the spill zone map that can be transposed to your region or community to give you an idea as to the scope of the spill, and several news feeds from leading news outlets.

Visit the If It Was My Home website.

Lawsuit to Lift Deepwater Drilling Moratorium
On May 27th, a federal moratorium on deepwater oil drilling was put in place, following the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill. Earlier this month, a group of companies that provide oil drilling services, including Hornbeck Offshore Services, filed a lawsuit against the government, declaring that the moratorium violated the Outer Continental Lands Act and would impose financial hardship on the plaintiff companies. With support from several conservation organizations, including the Center for Biological Diversity, the Secretary of the Interior and several related agencies intend to continue with the moratorium.

“The Secretary’s decision was a valid exercise of his discretion predicated on the need to ensure that no further drilling accidents occur pending review and implementation of safety protocols and procedures,” lawyers for the agencies said. “The short-term economic harm asserted by the plaintiffs fails to meet their burden of demonstrating irreparable harm.”

Here is the dilemma: when a society's economy is so entrenched in oil, that businesses will sue to maintain the status quo even in the face of one of the largest environmental disasters ever.

Read Businessweek article.

Petition to Prevent Drilling Without Environmental Review
And speaking of the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), the organization filed a legal petition with the Department of the Interior, requesting the elimination of the "categorical exclusion" which allows the infamous Minerals Management Service (MMS) to approve drilling plans without the usual environmental review as required under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

According to a CBD press release, "BP [British Petroleum] received approval for its Deepwater Horizon operations under a NEPA categorical exclusion, which allows MMS to greenlight oil and gas exploration and development activities without companies needing to submit an environmental assessment or environmental impact statement, as typically required under NEPA."

"The petition also charges that MMS violated NEPA in its approval of Gulf oil and gas exploration activities. According to the center, the environmental assessment prepared by MMS for the 2007 lease spill — the one that parceled out the Deepwater Horizon well — concluded that the lease sale would have 'no significant environmental impacts.'”

Read Law360.com article.

The Blame Game
While certainly BP and several federal agencies have to take responsibility for setting the stage for this now ongoing disaster, we ourselves are not free of blame, as a recent issue of TIME pointed out.

"And all of us bear responsibility too for depending on and demanding cheap oil underwritten by risky drilling while showing again and again at the ballot box that we wouldn't support a government that really regulated the industry. 'This failure of government is government acting the way the American people have said they want it to act,' says Sarah Elkind, a political historian at San Diego State University. 'We get what we deserve.' The question is whether we have the strength and smarts to recognize how Americans got to this oil-soaked moment and to force the changes needed to make sure it never happens again."

Celebrate World Oceans Day: revitalize your faith in the face of disaster

Next Tuesday, June 8th, will be World Oceans Day 2010. I can't believe it's been a year already since the last time I mentioned this worldwide event in my blog. In some respects, the event has been a bit under the radar, overshadowed by the ongoing horrors of the Gulf oil spill. But perhaps that makes World Oceans Day 2010 all the more timely - a day to positively reaffirm our commitment to preserving the oceans and all the life within.

This year, World Oceans Day 2010, first proposed by Canada in 1992 and later adopted by the U.N., carries the theme: Oceans of Life. A very appropriate theme given how we depend on the oceans for our very existence. Rather than one massive event, World Oceans Day 2010, which is organized by The Ocean Project.org, is made up of many regional events across the globe. If you live near one of these events, check it out as they are events that you can participate in from beach cleanups to children celebrations of Dr. Seuss' classic "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish."

You can go to the official World Oceans Day 2010 website and look up your country or region to see what is taking place. Because June 8th falls on a Tuesday this year, many events are taking place on the weekend before, June 5th - 6th.

"Designation of World Oceans Day provides an important boost to those organizations and individuals who have been deeply committed to ocean conservation. Official UN designation is another important step toward improving the health of our world's ocean. Now we need to capitalize on this fresh momentum! We hope you will be involved in planning or participating in a World Oceans Day celebration near you!"

Celebrate World Oceans Day 2010, a chance to make an optimistic, affirming statement in the face of a terrible ongoing environmental catastrophe.

What Next?: Gulf oil spill legacy signals need for new energy paradigm

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is the unwanted gift that keeps on giving. I awoke this morning to televised news reports of tar balls being found in the Florida Keys. While not totally unique to this area, these tar balls will be sent to labs for analysis to determine whether they are from the current Gulf oil spill. If so, it represents evidence of the oil reaching the Loop Current that could ultimately deposit oil as far away as the Atlantic Ocean coastline off the Carolinas.

Several scientific and tracking organizations, like SkyTruth, have reported that the oil spill will enter the Loop Current - which runs from the mid-Gulf, around Florida and up the east coast - if not now, then eventually. This current not only adds another later of complexity to the catastrophe in the Gulf, but it also reminds us of the consequences of our age-old attitude regarding the oceans: that it is a vast open resource - a source of limitless bounty and capable of handling endless abuse. Such thinking is total folly.

To the media and much of the general public, the biggest concern is what we can see: oil splashing up on the shore, oozing into the marshlands, and coating shorebirds - these are the visible signs that something has invaded our backyard. Unfortunately, if these events do not occur, or at least not in great magnitude, then we have a tendency to think we dodged the bullet.

Initially, weather played a role in delaying or keeping the oil at bay, far offshore. And the interplay of the onshore/offshore winds even got some people to wonder where the oil was or whether the spill was as disastrous as claimed. But there is close to 6 million gallons of oil (a conservative figure; other estimates run into the hundreds of thousands) that has leaked into the Gulf and it has to be somewhere.

I have to admit, when I first heard about the Loop Current, I imagined a current hugging the coastline around the eastern Gulf of Mexico. As it turns out, the current starts in the middle of the Gulf - behind, or south, of the site of the spill - then proceeds towards the tip of Florida, where it whips around the tip then stays close to the east coast shoreline. So, if we breathe a sigh of relief that the oil has, to a large extant, stayed offshore, it's ironic that any movement away from shore means it is heading directly into the current to spread an even wider and unexpected path of pollution.

There have been some reports of a large swath of oil moving below the surface, relatively undetected. These reports have been questioned by some government agencies and so further investigation continues, but it would not surprise me if there is a political media person somewhere saying that the longer the oil goes missing, the better. Again, out of sight, out of mind.

But there's no escaping the fact that we are talking about millions of gallons of oil.

• Oil that has settled on the bottom? That would be disastrous for marine life as the oil would work its way into the fundamental base food chain that impacts a variety of shellfish and other bottom feeders.
• Oil that has dissipated or spread itself into a thin micro-globular layer? There it can be ingested by plankton, spread across sensitive coral, or enter the atmosphere through evaporation.
• Or how about broken down by hundreds of thousands of gallons of dispersant (a toxic brew unto itself) to be eaten by hungry microbes which, in turn, would consume oxygen in the process, thereby degrading water quality.

There is no getting around it - whether we can see it or not, oil and water (in this case, sea water) don't mix.

My growing concern and question is: What will the decision-makers learn from this? What will the oil companies? And perhaps most importantly, what will we learn from this?

If anything, the Gulf oil spill highlights the complexity and multi-disastrous impact such an event can have on marine ecosystems near and far. What will it take to finally make definitive steps away from fossil fuel - our national, in fact global, addiction? As a society we are definitely in the throes of an addiction. We know that it is bad for us, we know that it harms the environment, we know that it produces lopsided economic dependencies - but we do nothing of any lasting consequence. That's textbook addiction.

Hopefully, British Petroleum will contain and stop the oil leak soon. We will have to live with degraded marine environments throughout the Gulf and perhaps along the southeast coast. And seafood commercial fisheries will be cut off from the stocks that they have plundered for years to meet demand. Tourism will suffer and seafood prices will rise. Gasoline prices too, perhaps.

But what will we do next? It has been said that the drug addict, regardless of his or her past bad experiences, must decide that they have now hit rock bottom before they can change their lives. Are we there yet?