http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2012/01/gulf_of_mexico_oil_spill_envir.html
Published: Thursday, January 12, 2012, 10:45 PM Updated: Friday, January 13, 2012, 8:42 AM
By Mark Schleifstein, The Times-Picayune
BP’s chief environmental scientist assigned to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on Thursday said the company, working with state and federal trustees, remains on a fast pace aimed at restoring resources damaged during the 2010 spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Briefing reporters by phone in advance of a month-long series of hearings on proposed “early restoration projects” along the Gulf Coast, Robin Bullock said the formal Natural Resource Damage Assessment process required under federal law has developed “the largest set of environmental data at one point in time associated with an oil spill incident within the Gulf of Mexico.”
Hundreds of scientists — from universities, federal agencies and hired by BP — have gathered data on the status of Gulf resources before the spill, and the potential for resource damage from the estimated 5 million barrels of oil that gushed from BP’s Macondo well. That information was used to develop projects to restore natural resources and compensate the public for the use of those lost resources.
The hearings will focus on the first eight projects proposed in December by states’ trustees and BP, which total $57 million for the Gulf Coast and includes $28 million for Louisiana projects. BP has pledged to spend $1 billion on “early restoration” projects, but the company and other parties responsible for the spill may eventually have to spend as much as $20 billion on natural resource projects.
The first two Louisiana projects will build more than 100 acres of wetlands in Plaquemines Parish, place oyster cultch on six public seed beds in several parishes and upgrade an oyster hatchery on Grand Isle.
The projects were approved by a committee of trustees representing the five Gulf Coast states, the federal departments of Interior and Commerce and BP. Under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, the trustees and the parties responsible for the spill are required to cooperatively complete the damage assessment process.
The early projects are driven by the early lessons learned by scientists, Bullock said.
“We knew a few things about the injuries very quickly,” she said, including the effects on recreational fishers by the closure of wide swaths of the Gulf to fishing, and to tourists by beach closures.
The $4.4 million proposed for building boat ramps and $600,000 for coastal dunes in Florida is aimed at compensating for such lost recreational opportunities.
“On the ecological side, we do know that oil reached the shorelines,” Bullock said. “We do know that we did have some mortality associated with birds, some mortality associated with turtles,” and projects aimed at restoring near-shore environments would compensate for their losses, she said.
Louisiana’s projects fall into the resource restoration category, as do the $11 million for oyster cultch and $2.6 million for an artificial reef in Mississippi and the $9.4 million for marsh creation and $1.1 million for coastal dune improvements in Alabama.
Louisiana’s first two projects are part of a $533 million list of 13 projects that it proposed in July for a share of BP’s early restoration money, said Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority chairman Garret Graves, who acts as Louisiana’s trustee in the damage assessment process.
Louisiana is supposed to get $200 million of the first $1 billion, but hopes some of the projects could be paid for with shares of the BP money provided that will go to the Commerce and Interior departments.
Bullock and Graves could not say when additional projects will be announced, but the agreement signed by trustees and BP set a goal of beginning construction of projects by the end of 2012, Graves said.
“The intent of Louisiana is to stick to that time frame,” Graves said.
Public comments are being accepted on the first list of projects through Feb. 14, including on the web at http://losco-dwh.com/EarlyRestorationPlanComment.aspx .
Recommendations for future projects also will be accepted.
In Louisiana, state officials will hold three public meetings to discuss the projects, each beginning at 5:30 p.m., with a public hearing at 6:30 p.m.:
* Jan. 31, Terrebonne Council Chambers, 8026 Main St., second floor, Houma.
* Feb. 1, St. Bernard Parish Council Chambers, 8201 West Judge Perez Drive, Chalmette.
* Feb.. 2, Belle Chasse Auditorium, 8398 Louisiana 23, Belle Chasse.
Mark Schleifstein can be reached at mschleifstein@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3327.
Special thanks to Richard Charter