(06/27/2011)
Lawrence Hurley, E&E reporter
Lawmakers on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee this
week will examine how much progress the federal government and Gulf
Coast states have made in assessing the natural resource damage caused
by last year’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
The Water and Wildlife Subcommittee, presided over by Sen. Ben Cardin
(D-Md.), will seek information tomorrow on initial findings and probe
officials on how they are gathering and analysing the data, according
to Cardin spokesman Sue Walitsky.
The basic aim of the hearing is to “look at where we are in the
assessment process,” Walitsky added.
The April 2010 explosion on the Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico led
to a spill of an estimated 4.9 million barrels of oil that affected not
just the shoreline but also the deepwater ecosystem up to 5,000 feet
down.
The Natural Resources Damage Assessment is the legal process whereby
the various parties involved — in this case federal agencies, affected
states and well operator BP PLC — figure out the ecological damage
caused by an environmental disaster. On the federal government side,
the process is overseen by representatives from the Defense, Interior
and Commerce departments.
Scientists are still in the midst of scouring the Gulf for data
(Greenwire, April 20). The information gathered will be used to
determine how much BP and other companies involved in the disaster will
pay as part of the restoration process.
During the hearing, testimony will be offered not only by officials
involved in the process but also independent scientists who are keeping
a close eye on the Gulf in the aftermath of the spill.
Emily Woglom, director of government relations for Ocean Conservancy,
noted that government officials will be somewhat limited in what they
can reveal because there remains the possibility of litigation over how
much BP should pay.
There is an “understandable tension” between the desire to inform the
public and the need to protect data of legal significance, Woglom said.
The committee will also delve into the $1 billion BP agreed in April to
pay for emergency restoration projects and how it has being spent,
Walitsky said.
Each of the five affected states — Florida, Alabama, Mississippi,
Louisiana and Texas — have been allocated $100 million to spend on
projects. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the
Department of the Interior also have $100 million each to spend as they
see fit. The remaining $300 million will be allocated by the federal
government to fund proposals suggested by the states.
Schedule: The hearing is tomorrow at 10 a.m. in 406 Dirksen.
Witnesses: Cynthia Dohner, regional director, Southeast Region, U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service; Tony Penn, deputy chief of the Assessment
and Restoration Division, Office of Response and Restoration, NOAA;
Donald Boesch, professor of marine science and president of the
University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, and member of
the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and
Offshore Drilling; Margaret Leinen, vice chairwoman of the Gulf of
Mexico Research Initiative Research Board, executive director of the
Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, and associate provost for Marine
and Environmental Initiatives at Florida Atlantic University; Erik
Rifkin, interim executive director, National Aquarium Conservation
Center, National Aquarium; Garret Graves, chairman, Coastal Protection
and Restoration Authority; and R. Cooper Shattuck, chairman of the
executive committee of the NRDA Trustee Council and legal adviser to
the governor of Alabama.
Special thanks to Richard Charter