http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303624004577339943866694420.html
April 12, 2012, 7:47 p.m. ET
Marine Studies Raise Fresh Concern After Early Fears of Environmental Catastrophe From BP Disaster Failed to Materialize
By TOM FOWLER
Rush Jagoe for The Wall Street Journal
David Farizo fishes in Lafitte, a community in Louisiana’s wetlands. New research points out possible ill effects on dolphins, plankton and coral after 2010’s oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
HOUSTON-Scientists studying the environmental impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico are raising fresh concerns about the effect of the leaked crude on a range of sea life, from tiny animal plankton to dolphins.
So far, studies have not uncovered the ecological apocalypse that some feared after the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded two years ago this month, unleashing the biggest offshore oil spill in U.S. history. But hopes that the Gulf would be relatively unaffected are dimming.
“The death and destruction that many predicted hasn’t come through for a lot of reasons,” said Robert Haddad, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s assessment and restoration effort. “But everywhere we look throughout the Gulf things are just a little bit out of kilter.”
Zooplankton-microscopic organisms that are a source of food for many fish-were found to have ingested hazardous components of the specific oil from the spill, according to a study released last month by researchers at East Carolina University and other colleges and funded by the National Science Foundation. The study didn’t speculate on whether the oil may have harmed the zooplankton nor did it say what the effect could be on larger organisms.
A large coral formation on the sea floor several miles from the well site appears to be dying because of a coating of oil from the spill, according to a study by Pennsylvania State University, Haverford College and other institutions, also funded by a National Science Foundation grant.
And a study of dozens of dolphins in Barataria Bay, La., where some of the heaviest oil slicks came ashore, concluded many of them are showing serious illnesses similar to animals that have been in contact with oil. The dolphins were underweight, anemic and suffering from low blood sugar as well as liver and lung ailments.
Dolphin deaths and strandings in the northern Gulf of Mexico have been much higher than historic averages since the spill, but a surge in unexplained deaths also predated the accident.
The dolphin study, released by NOAA, was careful not to say the illnesses are directly linked to the spill. The official assessment of the spill’s environmental impact, which the agency is overseeing for the government and well owner BP BP.LN -0.81% PLC, is in its early stages of reviewing data from some 160 studies.
But the preliminary findings were serious enough, NOAA said, that groups that take part in rescues of stranded dolphins and other ocean mammals needed the information.
The Gulf, which has long been the site of oil and gas production, has suffered through many minor spills and accidents. On Thursday, government officials were monitoring a 10-square-mile oil slick, known as a sheen, about 130 miles southeast of New Orleans and searching for the source.
But the Deepwater Horizon incident dwarfed previous spills. For 87 days, oil flowed from the BP well that lay 5,000 feet below the ocean surface about 40 miles off the Louisiana coast. Slicks fanned out across 68,000 miles of open water and fouled more than 1,000 miles of coastline.
The impact could have been worse, experts say. A mitigating factor was the spill was located far offshore and nearly a mile underwater. The flow of the Mississippi River, meantime, kept much of the oil out at sea, and chemical dispersants broke up crude both below the surface and on it, as did naturally occurring oil-eating microbes.
BP agreed to pay the upfront cleanup costs and the costs of restoring oil-damaged habitats, which so far have topped about $14 billion. The British company pledged up to $1 billion for further restoration projects and $500 million for research.
The ultimate environmental price tag for BP, however, will come through the NOAA-led process known as a Natural Resource Damage Assessment, which includes a range of scientific studies. If the studies, some of which could come out later this year, find links between the spill and the damage, BP would be expected to pay compensation or fund the cost of restoration.
Outside studies such as the one on zooplankton could be incorporated into the NRDA through the peer-review process, but BP or NOAA could contest their inclusion if they don’t believe they are relevant or meet rigorous scientific standards. Disagreements could end up being adjudicated by federal judges who are overseeing the massive collection of civil complaints that BP faces in U.S. District Court in New Orleans.
BP expects to finalize a civil settlement worth an estimated $7.8 billion with thousands of Gulf businesses and individuals in the next few days. Civil and criminal settlements with the government, which could reach the tens of billions of dollars by some estimates, are pending.
The company is committed to working with NOAA and the Gulf Coast states to assess the damages from the spill, spokesman Tom Mueller said.
It is likely any final assessment or settlement of damages with the government will include a “re-opener” clause, which would give plaintiffs the right to ask the courts to revisit the terms if the damages turn out to be greater than originally believed, said David Uhlmann, a University of Michigan law professor and former head of the Justice Department’s Environmental Crimes Section.
Doug Inkley, a senior scientist with the National Wildlife Federation, said even though the environmental damage scientists are finding is subtle, it is serious.
“The oil spill is to the Gulf what smoking is to a human,” he said. “You’re still able to function overall, but not nearly as well.”
Write to Tom Fowler at tom.fowler@wsj.com
A version of this article appeared April 13, 2012, on page A3 in some U.S. editions of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Experts Weigh Spill’s Lasting Effects.
Special thanks to Richard Charter